Supergirl: The Legacy Continues
by karazorel
Summary: Based upon characters from the 1984 movie. Set 4 years after A New Home. Kara / Linda tries to balance her personal life, duties, and priorities. A new nemesis presents itself threatening to destroy a future legacy that Kara has to learn to handle.
1. Changes

_**DISCLAIMER:** Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**Changes**

Midvale had changed a lot over the last four years. Where it was formerly a small town populated by people who seemed to know each other by their first names, it now held a large number of city folks who had relocated to the area. The old timers in the town believed that the increase in the town's population was brought about by the public knowledge that Supergirl had taken the residents under her protective wing. Something that everyone had seen happen to Metropolis when it became known that Superman was often seen in the area. The existence of the two super beings seemed to give the 2 places a higher sense of security and safety. The safety confidence of the public in Midvale was such that the small town saw its population double in size over the past 3 years.

The economy of the town was also booming because of the new residents. Just like with any town that had a real estate boom, there was a high demand for excellent landscapers, and Ethan was one of the best in town. His business had now tripled and he found himself employing other landscapers under his company. He was a big boss now who still dressed in simple jeans and t-shirts. Gone was his old beat up Chevy pick up. He now had 5 Ford F-150 trucks registered to his company along with the 4 extra men who were now working for him. But being the boss never changed the way he did business. He still had a special roster of original clients whose horticulture needs he personally attended to. The Midvale School For Girls was still a regular client of his. The school held special meaning for him and he would tend to their gardens for free if they asked him to.

One of the things that irritated him about the Midvale Boom, as the local newspapers called it, was that traffic went from non-existent to nightmarish almost overnight. As he sat in his air conditioned truck waiting for traffic to move so that he could ease his way onto 42nd street where his new office was located, he could not help but envy how his wife of 3 years never had to deal with traffic. All she had to do was fly.

How he wished that he could do the same as Linda, in her alter ego form did. He looked anxiously at his watch, panic started to fill his eyes. He was going to be late getting home at this rate and she would definitely be furious with him if he showed up late today. He lowered his window and shouted at the ineffective traffic cop who stood in the middle of the road pretending to direct traffic. Traffic in Midvale streets usually flowed a lot smoother when the likes of him weren't trying to direct the vehicles on the road.

"C'mon buddy! Move the elephant!" he hollered impatiently at the officer who glared at him.

It took a good 10 minutes before he was able to get himself off the traffic ridden road and parked into the last available slot in his office compound. The other four trucks were already in for the day as well. He hurried into the office and picked up the only avaialable phone at the front desk.

"You're late. Why on earth did you choose today to work on the Bloom project." Vicki, the warm chestnut haired receptionist who was about the same age as Ethan warned him.

"I won't be late. I have time." he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than the receptionist.

A look of relief spread over his face as the answering machine at the house picked up the phone.

"Morrison residence. Tell us why you called and we will call you back when we can." said the giggling voice of Linda over the line. She wasn't home yet. He just might make it home before her.

"Linda, I got stuck in a monster traffic jam. No worries, I am on my way home. I won't be late." He replaced the reciever and hurried to his private office.

He only had enough time to chuck his equipment into his locker before he raced out the door. Throwing the key to the front door at Vicki.

"Lock up after the others. I'll see you all at the house. " he instructed her as he rushed out the door.

****

The tall brunette woman was walking briskly out of the College of Arts and Sciences building of Midvale Community College. Having her classes finally end for the day did not make her feel any more confident that she would get home on time. She always seemed to have to make a few stops along the way that usually cost her valuable travel time, even though she could fly. Actually, flying was the main reason she often ran late getting home.

"Now remember Linda, go straight home. Mom is probably already there helping the caterers set up. Try not to stop for any reason. " the hazelnut haired woman walking with her instructed as they headed for the school parking lot.

"I'll try Lucy. But, you know I cannot ignore anybody who needs my help." Linda explained as they reached Lucy's Peacock Blue Mitsubishi Lancer.

"Supergirl has to learn to chuck it once in a while my dear friend. You can't be late for your own event." she responded before getting into the car. "I will go pick up the cake before heading to your place."

"Okay. And Jimmy will be there at what time?"

"He took the day off from work today to make sure he would have enough time to set up at your house. He could be there by now."

Linda closed the driver's door as Lucy started the engine. "I'll see you there. In case Ethan gets home ahead of me, tell him we left at the same time and I should be there soon."

She watched as her best friend drove off.

_"I should ask Ethan to teach me how to drive one of these days. Lucy makes it look like so much fun and it seems that I am the only one on campus without a car. Not that I need one..." _she thought to herself before turning around and heading off to a deserted part of the campus where she could take flight without any notice.

****

Kara was very happy that Kal-El had finally decided that he had trained her enough in the way of saving humans from the often dangerous and precarious situations that they always managed to get themselves into. There was a time during her training when she could only go on rescue missions with Kal-El, limiting her rescue immersion activities to Metropolis and, during the times when he was in Midvale as Clark Kent, a few non consequential rescues by Supergirl under the direct supervision of Superman.

Midvale was more peaceful than Metropolis so during Kara's reconnaissance flights, she had time to just enjoy the flight and indulge in one of her favorite activities, the flying ballet. Usually her missions involved helping put out fires in the forest during the summer, or, once in a while, stopping a robbery in progress. The police department even gave her a plaque of appreciation a few years ago thanking her for her efforts in keeping Midvale residents always protected and safe.

She was flying westward on her way home when the voices of children in trouble reached her ears. The conglomeration of voices seemed to be coming from the southern part of Midvale. The children were in a panic and crying as far as she could hear. Their collective voices reached her super senses. Causing Kara to lean into her flight. Going faster before it was too late.

_"Help! Supergirl! We're going to fall!" _she heard the collective cries of children being carried through the air.

The party would have to wait. Ethan would understand. He always did. He knew that just like Kal-El, she would sacrifice her personal happiness and safety for the good of those under her care.

She saw the bus hanging dangerously on the edge of the bridge barrier. It would have fallen straight into the raging waters of the river below had the back tires not gotten caught on the wreckage of the steel barrier that the impact had destroyed. Using her x-ray vision, she surveyed the interior of the school bus. The police and rescue teams were already in place to save the kids but the position of the bus tied their hands. If they tried to open the back door of the bus, it would tilt even further and crash into the river for sure. There would not be enough time to get all of the children out of the bus safely before the inevitable happened. But that was the human way.

Everyone applauded the sight of Supergirl appearing within the skies above the bus. The police got on their megaphones and asked the crowd to make way in case Supergirl needed the manouvering space. Her first instinct was to fly by the windows so the children inside would know that she was there. She noticed that whenever she or Kal-El were present at an incident, people involved calmed down a lot faster. The children who were crying began wiping away their tears and smiling at her with hope in their eyes. They knew she would save them. She smiled back and held her thumb up to let them know all would be well. Flying to the front of the bus which was hanging off the bridge, she took a strong hold on the stainless steel bumper before she hoisted the vehicle overhead and placed it safely on the pavement of the bridge. The children exited as fast as they could into the anxious arms of their parents.

Kara checked on the bus driver whom she noticed did not move during her inspection. He was slumped over the steering wheel and had turned ashen in color. The paramedics came over and extricated him from the driver's seat. they tried to restart his heart on site but were unable to do so. They would take him to the hospital and try to revive him further there.

"It will take you 15 minutes to get to Midvale will be faster if I flew him in. His condition cannot wait." she told them as she slipped her arms under the fifty something man's body.

****

They had moved into the new house on Arbor Street two years after they got married. Since the rent on their previous home was being raised, and Ethan's business was starting to pick up, it made more sense for them to put down a payment on their first home. It was the typical American family's home, complete with the white picket fence and step up porch. The color of the house was creamy yellow on the outside and off white on the inside. The roof tiles were basic blue with a few solar panels alongsidethe gutter to make the house energy efficient.

Linda was very excited when they first moved in. It was a moderately sized compact house that easily housed the pair for they did not have own much in terms of material things. Just the bare neccessities as it were. The house had 4 bedrooms and two and a half baths. Too big for only two people but Ethan had insisted that he needed to have an office at home and Linda needed to have a seperate study room as well.

He parked the Honda Accord in the driveway and made his way into the main house. The voice of Mrs. Lane instructing the rented staff boomed across the hall from the main door.

"Now make sure there is enough champagne in the chiller. We do not want to make a toast with warm , show him where to place the other boxes" she instructed her husband who was trailing the delivery men who lugged in the cases of wine. He wanted to make sure they did not ruin the carpet that he had gifted Linda and Ethan with during their housewarming.

"Hi Mrs. Lane, Mr. Lane" Ethan smiled at the woman who was like a mother to him. Time had aged her and her husband very gracefully. Aside from a few white hairs on both their heads, nobody would be able to tell that they had a successful journalist daugher and another one in her junior year in college.

"Ethan, Linda isn't home yet." he was told as he hung up his jacket in the hall closet.

"She probably had to make a few stops on the way home." he reasoned. _"And probably saved a few lives along the way."_ he silently thought.

It took Ethan a good thirty minutes before he was finally ready to go downstairs and await the guests. He wondered what could be keeping Linda.

"Don't look at me. You know there is only one thing that could delay Linda." Lucy told him when he asked her why Linda wasn't home yet. He knew that they started off for home together everyday. The two steadfast friends always shared the same class schedules so that they always had their "sister time" on a daily basis.

****

The man Kara had flown to the hospital was finally revived. The doctors said he had suffered a major heart attack while at the wheel of the bus. He was lucky that Supergirl had been there to fly him in otherwise, it would have been too late. He was admitted into the hospital for observation. Since everything seemed alright, Kara was about ready to leave and head home. She was already an hour late for the party.

"He wants to speak with you before you go." The female doctor in charge of the man told her when she mentioned she was leaving.

The man, whose chart said his name was Alfred, had his eyes closed when Kara came in. He stirred only slightly and opened his eyes. He was attached to all sorts of monitoring devices that Kara was afraid to come near him for fear of accidentally disconnecting something.

"Thank you." he told her in a weake voice. "I owe you my life."

"You don't owe me anything." Kara replied softly. "Now close your eyes. Rest, and you will feel better tomorrow."

"Please Supergirl, stay with me till I fall asleep? Make sure that I will wake up? " he requested her. How could she say no?

"His next of kin card says he has children. We already contacted them but they will have to drive down from Metropolis" the nurse who was adjusting his IV drip informed her.

Without even thinking about how Ethan would feel about her very delayed arrival, or if she would even make the party at all at this point, she pulled up a chair that was leaning against the wall near the door and sat down.

"I am not going anywhere. I will make sure that you wake up and that I am here with your children when you open your eyes. "

Supergirl had to kill time with his son and daughter for 2 of the 3 hours he slept before he finally opened his eyes.

****

The party was well underway after seven p.m. and Linda was still nowhere to be found. What was keeping her? Ethan was visibly upset because her absence meant that he had to deal with all the guests alone. By seven p.m. he had had enough and pulled Clark aside to speak to.

"Can you go find Kara and bring her home? This is her party too and she is missing it. " he asked.

"No need Ethan. I hear her already." Clark pointed upward and they saw Kara flying into the master's bedroom window which they always left open for her inconspicious arrivals.

"It's about time!" Ethan declared before taking a big gulp of red wine.

She came down to the party wearing a simple straight cut white dress. Mingling with the visitors who were composed of her classmates and his business associates, Ethan and Linda portrayed the image of a young couple very inlove with each other and starting out in life. What they did not see however, was that underneath the veneer of love, Ethan was slowly starting to resent his wife's dual identity. The secret identity that only a few people knew about. Who was loved by all but now irritating him.

Normally, he did not mind having to share Linda with the rest of the nation whenever Supergirl was needed. But tonight was special for them. It was their 3rd wedding anniversary and the party was almost over when she arrived. Who could blame him for not even kissing her back when she greeted him after getting home?

"Ethan, you can smile better than that. It's your wedding anniversary" Jimmy prodded him after the party was over and the immediate family, including the Lanes, posed for souvenier pictures. Jimmy, who had just begun hiring himself out as a party photographer to earn extra income, was their offical megman.

"Give him some loving Linda! Lucy teased while Clark and Lois smiled as they watched nearby.

****

"Why couldn't you have let the emergency services handle the situation?" he asked her as they prepared to go to bed after the party. She was in the bathroom getting ready for bed and he was seated on the lazy boy as he flipped channels.

"They could not have done it without me Ethan. You know that there are some things only Kal-El and I can do. This was one of those things." her muffled voice came through the closed bathroom door.

"I know that Linda. But does it always have to be at my expense?" he asked her as he finally settled on the basketball game on the tube.

"What are you talking about Ethan? You know you are number one with me." she opened the door and stuck her head out.

"I am number one with Linda. With Kara... I am not so sure." he sounded like a little boy throwing a tantrum.

"I am Linda. I am Kara. Regardless of what I am wearing and what color my hair is, I am still only one woman, the one you married. Your wife." she explained to him as she got into the sleeping outfit that she had bought earlier in the day. That was going to be her anniversary present to him.

She came out of the bathroom and stood in front of the tv screen in her light blue silk robe.

"I'm watching the game." Ethan complained as he signaled her to step aside.

"You would rather watch the game than celebrate our anniversary?" she asked him as she slowly undid the silk ribbon that held her robe closed.

"Party's over. I did not enjoy it." he complained trying to focus on the screen.

"So I take it you won't enjoy this?" she dropped the robe in front of him to reveal a skimpy white negligee that covered very little of her body underneath.

He swallowed hard at the sight of his wife clad skimpily infront of him. Linda was not usually one to make the first move.

"Nah." he pretended not to look at her.

She took the remote control out of his hand and set is aside before floating only inches away from his lap. "Then I guess you don't want your anniversary gift."

His eyes registered a look of bewilderment. This was something new. A different side of Linda, or was it Kara? That he had never seen before.

Tracing his lips in that sensous manner that only Kara could do, the kiss that followed made him completely forget why he was mad at her in the first place. He began devouring her lips and getting what was left of her coverings out of the way.

"Karalinda." he moaned as his manly urges made him hold her closer and tighter to his still clothed body. He could not remember how he unded up only in his briefs. Superspeed perhaps?

"I knew you couldn't resist." she teased him as he carried her to their bed.


	2. Heritage Island

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**Heritage Island**

Daybreak was just about to begin as Linda and Ethan finally shut their eyes for some sleep. Their bodies spooning in satisfaction from their numerous acts of shared love that night. She was just getting used to the rhythm of Ethan's breathing as he exhaled unto the back of her neck. He held so tightly that she could not unwrap his arms from her waist so that she could roll over to her side of the bed.

_"Kara..." _she heard the voice of Kal-El like a whisper in the winds. She shrugged and adjusted her position as best as she could within Ethan's grasp. Placing her hands on top of his.

_"Wake up Kara. There is a power plant meltdown in Chicago. I need your help." _Kal-El's voice was urgent.

"Kal - El? Where are you?" she asked in a whisper. Careful not to wake Ethan.

_"Waiting outside your window. Hurry." _

She glanced at the clock. 6 A.M. Ethan would be up by 8. After the way he acted the night before, flying off on another mission while he slept was not the way to make his mood any nicer. But what choice did she have? As a super being, this was her duty, to protect the weak and innocent. Prevent disasters when she could.

"But Ethan and I have not had any sleep yet. It is our anniversary." she tried to reason out.

_"Kara-El, this is your duty. It is all the planet that gave you a home is asking for in exchange for all the good graces you have received. Surely Ethan will recognize the value of that. Now stop making excuses and get dressed."_ Kal-El ordered her sternly.

Using controlled strength, she got out of his clutches and pulled off the 2nd blanket layer over her naked body. After getting into her Supergirl outfit and speedily writing a note to Ethan which she left on the bed, she flew off with Kal-El to deal with the problem.

As if sensing that Kara had slipped away from his grasp, Ethan stirred in bed. Opening his eyes, he saw her jumping out the window. Kal-El flying beside her.

"Kara! Where are you going? " he called after her.

The paper she had placed on her pillow on the bed rustled as the wind from her flight breezed through the room. He opened the note and read the familiar handwriting of Linda:

_Ethan, _

_Power plant emergency in Chicago. Kal-El needs my help. I knew you were tired so I did not wake you anymore. Sorry about not being able to make breakfast for you. I will make up for it tonight. I promise. _

_Kara_

He crumpled the note and threw it out the window in disgust. Wishing the piece of paper to catch up with the superbeings and hit his wife on some part of her body. Maybe it would make her come back. What right had Kal-El to bring her on a mission without asking him first? He was her husband and he wished he would defer to him when it came to activities concerning his wife.

****

The cousins flew directly to the Fortress of Solitude after cleaning up the toxic near disaster in Chicago. They were so attuned to each other's thoughts and movements that the rescue and clean up operation was flawless and accomplished in almost no time at all. However, due to the nature of the situation, neither of them wished to go back to their "normal" lives before undergoing the decontamination procedure that Kal-El had developed.

Kara had just finished going through the decon cubicle and was just waiting for her Supergirl clothes to finish the same process. She was dressed in a similar attire as what she used to wear on Argo City. Only this time, she was actually wearing a dress made from burlap. She asked Kal=El to let her wear a similar attire when he first asked her to bring some clothes to the fortress in the event that she would need to change into human clothes while their outfits were "fumigated" as Kal-El termed it. The burlap gown was something she wore to honor her roots.

It was customary for Kara to wait for Kal-El to get ready to leave on the days when their missions fell on a school day and he would most likely need to sign her excuse letter or personally make excuses for her at the college. He would still need a few minutes in the isolation chamber before they could be on their way back to Metropolis and Midvale respectively.

She took the time to walk around the fortress and marvel at how it all evolved from a single Kryptonian crystal that Kal-El had plunged into the ice waters of the North pole decades earlier. She envied how he had this special place where he could be in touch with his Kyrptonian roots while she had lost all connections to Argo City during the explosion. Sometimes, she would sit in the backyard of her home and close her eyes, trying to recall everything about Argo City and her parents. Willing herself to never let go of the memories for that was all that she was left with. Those were the memories that defined who she had now become.

Something seemed to be different in the fortress that day. Kara felt as though there were a pair of prying eyes watching her every move. The winds blowing through seemed to be whispering her name. Perhaps she was just hearing things? There was no one else in the fortress. It was protected by strong Kryptonian science from discovery by the mortal world.

_"Kara..."_ a female voice in the wind seemed to be calling to her. A familiar voice that she could not place.

_"Hear us calling you Kara..."_ another voice, was it a male voice?

"Uncle Jor-El?" she called out for the only other worldy voice that was often heard in this isolated area was his.

Her attention was called by the crystals that Kal-El had stacked neatly into their place holders in the supply area of the fortress. Each one was aglow with a color of the rainbow. These were the very same crystals that her parents had her bring to earth with her. She had never seen the crystals reacting to her presence this way before.

Without any warning, a reddish blue crystal floated out of the holder and into her hand.

_"Insert it into the reader. All shall now be revealed."_ the male voice that she was now sure she had heard before instructed her.

Her hands trembled as she inserted the crystal. There was no mistaking it. The voices belonged to Alura and Zor-El. Why had they not told her about this crystal before the explosion?

The images of her parents now stood before her. Standing tall and proud just like they did in life. A look of pride on their faces as they addressed Kara with love in their voices.

_"We stand before you now, proud of the woman and protector of mankind that you have become. The activation of this crystal means that Kal-El has completed your training and now, the two of you are ready to take your places of honor as the Elders of a forgotten race. For you Kara-El and Kal-El are the Princess and Prince of Krypton." _her father began to explain.

She could not help but cry upon seeing her parents after all the years that had passed. It almost killed her to have to accept that they had died so violently and refused to have her save them. She tried to control her emotions. These were just projections. They were not real. Her parents were gone forever.

Kara Did not notice Kal-El walk up behind her after seeing the lights bouncing off the icicles and walls. He too did not know why the crystals suddenly went active. He lightly touched her arm to let her know he was beside her.

_"Take the Crystal of Heritage."_ the voice instructed. Immediately, a yellow green crystal floated towards them. Kara caught the prism and examined it carefully. These were the crystals her parents had packed. She had never seen these before.

Somehow they both knew what to do with the crystal. Without another word, they flew off towards the center of the Pacific Ocean. Below them they saw dolphins and whales frolicking happily in the waters. They seemed to know that they had company. As if instructed by an unseen power, the two swam in a strange pattern. Creating an outline that reminded Kara of the Omegahedron.

Without even thinking, Kara flew into the water towards the ocean floor. There she slammed the crystal as hard as she could into the sea bottom. Disturbing the sand and sending it in an upward spiral that thrust her out of the water as Kal-El watched on.

****

Lucy glanced nervously at the clock as the bell rang to signal the start of the Creative Writing class. She was probably out saving the day somewhere and would be late for class as usual. She could only hope that Linda could still make the class before it was over. Professor Lucila Leighton was a stickler for attendance and Linda already had enough tardies for Leighton to have her within her sights.

"Logan, Linda Lee." Leighton had already reached the L's in the attendance roster. The woman who was in her late 40's lowered her oval shaped eyeglasses as she looked up from her record book towards the absent students seat. She was known as the best creative writing professor in the school who ran her classes like boot camps and was definitely not for students with only half an interest in her class.

She placed the book on the table and looked directly at Lucy. "Miss Lane, if your friend cannot attend my classes regularly, it would be best for you to advice her to drop my class. She is obviously not interested in what I have to teach and I am not interested in teaching students such as her."

"She'll be here Ms. Leighton. You know how married students are. They tend to get caught up in all sorts of stuff before class." Lucy tried to make a joke out of the situation.

"No I do not. She had no business marrying so early if she wanted to have a college education." she replied sternly.

"Yes ma'am."

Lucy hated the days when Linda did not make it their classes. It was difficult for her to constantly have to come up with excuses for her. Oftentimes, she found herself wondering if Linda was just bad at juggling activities she should be good at multitasking at, or if Clark himself was the same way when he was in college. She made a mental note to discuss the situation with Clark if she ever got the chance. It would be useless to talk to Ethan about it since he never set foot in a college classroom in his life.

"We shall begin the lesson with a recap of our last topic. Now, who can tell me what a 2 dimensional character is? Mr. Lovitz? " The class had officially begun.

After what seemed like forever, the class finally ended with a short story writing assignment. Professor Leighton called Lucy over to her table when she passed by on her way out.

"Have Ms. Logan come to my office tomorrow after her classes. I wish to discuss one of her papers with her." she requested.

"Yes ma'am." Lucy replied. What trouble did Linda get herself into? Leighton never called a student to her office unless she could prove a paper was plagiarized and Linda would not even know the meaning of the word.

****

Ethan arrived at the office with a dark cloud hovering above him. He was still mad because Linda left him with only a note as an explanation. As her husband, he felt and knew that he deserved more than that. When they were first married, he understoof why she had to suddenly fly off and do things without asking for his permission. But after 4 years of marriage, he now felt that she at least owed it to him to wake him up before jumping out the window to fight God knew what. The fear of her being exposed to the kryptonite rocks that were strewn all over Midvale always occupied his mind when he knew she was engaged in battle.

"What? No anniversary romp in the hay? " Joel, his senior horticulturist kidded him upon seeing him walk into the office with a scowl that told everyone to lay off him.

"What goes on in my bedroom is my business!" Ethan flared. He slammed the door to his office with a thud that shook the advertising posters off the walls.

"What's eating him?" Joel asked Vicki who looked up from her work desk after the thud startled everyone within hearing distance.

She was about to say something in jest about Ethan was obviously filled with sexual tension for some reason when her intercom sounded.

"Vicki, get me anything from the pantry for breakfast and a cup of hot coffee please." Ethan's voice came over the system.

"2 day old doughnuts ok?" she asked, pressing the talk button on the machine.

"It'll do." he replied.

"There goes Vicki, the office wife." Joel kidded.

She gave him a meaningful look as she stepped away from her desk.

"I won't be an office wife for long if Linda keeps this up." she muttered to herself as she prepared the food tray.

****

A vortex the size of 3 football fields whirled fast and strong in the middle of the ocean where Kara and Kal-El stood hovering. The Crystal of Heritage seemed to be reclaiming land from the ocean. Sand was coming up and settling in a solid manner. Within a matter of hours, a circular tropical island had been formed. They flew in for a closer look at the Kryptonian technological marvel.

_"Just as Kal-El has the Fortress of Solitude to call his home and share with you Kara, this island shall be your fortress to share with you Kal-El. An island where the history of our people and lessons learned by Kryptonians while on Argo City shall be stored for both of you to learn from and use whenever you need to. Kara, Kal-El, welcome to Heritage Island."_ the voice of Zor-El explained to them.

On the island was a structure that reminded Kara so much of the Omegahedron. this was a dome held together by frames in blue and red. The House of El emblem distinctly seen in the middle. Flying closer, the emblem proved itself to be a hatch that opened up for them to fly through. Inside the structure carried the similar lay out as Kara's family unit in Argo City. Only on a larger scale. It had crystal readers and other equipment that were similar to what Kal-El had at the Fortress of Solitude.

"Father, why can I hear you? Where are you? Are you alive?" Kara's voice was filled hope.

"It's computer generated Kara. They recorded their voices into the computer to help you respond better to the system. Just like my father did." Kal-El explained as he was familiar with the technology his father used to keep him in communication with his son from beyond his grave.

_"We shall never die for as long as you live Kara. For our love for you and our constant protection exists within you." _Alura's voice echoed through the hall.

As they examined the place, they noticed that the crystals that were at the Fortress of Solitude began to magically materialize into holders in the command center of the dome. It became apparent that the crystals recognized their respective masters and Kara's knew to follow her to this place. For this is the place where the crystals belonged.

"Ethan and Lucy will never believe this." Kara's voice was awestruck as they flew back to Midvale in the early hours of the evening. She had officially missed all her classes that day.

The cousins took one look back before continuing their flight. They saw the island sink into the water. Keeping itself protected from outside detection until one of them needed to use it again.


	3. The Mysterious Prof Leighton

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**The Mysterious Professor Leighton**

He was trying to concentrate on the paperwork strewn all over his office desk when Vicki walked in with the coffee and doughnuts. Placing the tray before him, she knew from his body language that there was trouble in the Logan household.

"What did Linda do this time?" she asked him as she poured him some coffee.

"Nothing you would understand Vicki. Linda is a very complicated woman." he reached for the cup being held out to him.

Vicki could never understand why Ethan always said that his wife was a complicated woman. As far as she knew, if anybody could explain the complexities of a woman to a man, it would be another woman. But the way Ethan treated Linda and spoke of her, you would think she were from another planet. In her opinion, he let her get away too many emasculating ways. She knew he was hurting from the way Linda had barely made the party the day before. But he always seemed to understand and shrug it off. if there was one thing Ethan was good at doing, it was making excuses for the constant irresponsibility of his wife. Why couldn't he just be honest and speak his mind about his wife's shortcomings? What made Linda so special that he would let her get away with anything, including constantly hurting his emotions?

"Sometimes I wonder why you married her. She isn't the marrying kind. Ethan, you deserve better."

"Please don't talk about my wife that way. You barely know her. " he warned.

"Look, there is obviously something going wrong with your marriage. I mean, how many men would come back to work after their wedding anniversarry with a cloud of gloom hovering over them?" she sat in the guest chair in front of his desk. She wasn't going to leave till she got some information that could be useful to her in the future.

"My marriage is doing fine Vicki. Linda and I are strong. We love each other." he insisted before taking a sip of coffee.

"Sometimes love isn't enough to keep the fire going in a relationship Ethan. Look, we all know you were both too young to understand what marriage really is all about when you jumped into it. Maybe you are regretting it now?"

He wasn't going to sit there and listen to all this poison talk. "Please leave my office. You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Maybe you are tired of Linda? Maybe you want to try something new?"

What he wanted was for her to get out of his office before he told her anything he might regret about his wife.

"If you don't talk about it, your marriage will crumble."

Ethan was too preoccupied with thoughts of all the times Linda had placed him second in her duties as Supergirl. At that moment, Vicki hit a nerve.

"I want my wife to stop putting me second to everything else! Is that what you want to hear? Are you happy now? Will you get off my case?" he blurted out, slamming the coffee mug on the table.

Vicki was stunned. She had never seen Ethan this upset before. He hurled the mug at the wall and then left the room.

"What was that all about?" Joel popped his head into the room to ask her.

****

Dinner was hot and ready by the time Ethan got home that night. She knew that he was going to be mad when he walked through the door. The one thing he had recently begun asking of her was that she stop flying off while he was asleep. He wanted to just once wake up with her still wrapped in his arms. That was what she tried to do that morning. Why did her duties always have to get in the way of her personal life? Were all married couples like this? Or was their situation quite different because of who she was?

Glancing at the clock, she realized that she would be hearing his car coming down the road soon. She cocked her head in anticipation of the familiar hum of his engine. As soon as she heard it, she poured out a glass of lemonade for him and then went to wait for him by the door.

"Hi honey. Dinner is ready. Do you want to take a shower first?" she handed him the glass which he did not accept. He still had a scowl on his face.

"I left you a note didn't I?" she tried to explain.

"I was awake Linda. All you had to do was nudge me. You did not have to sneak out that way. " he sat on the steps leading up to the rooms and took off his shoes. He always wore slippers at home.

Explaining that he looked tired and she wanted him to have enough rest before having to go back to work, specially after all the drinks he had at the party were not enough to convince Ethan that Linda just preferred he catch up on sleep than worry about her.

"Did it ever occur to you that I would worry more when I woke up and you were gone? Kara, you know how dangerous it is for you to be flying around the city, more so when you are with Kal-El. His enemies are nothing like you are used to dealing with."

Midvale did not really have any real criminal minds ever since she killed Selena. The worst kind of criminal she had faced so far was a simple bank robber. And he surrendered after he figured out that his bullets were only tickling Supergirl's skin.

"Ethan I..."

"Let's just eat and go to bed okay? I am really tired tonight." He placed his shoes in the hall closet shelf and went on ahead to the dining area.

****

Darkness had fully enveloped the city and only the bright moonbeams lit the dark street leading to the abandoned carnival. The gates that had no visible wiring system magically parted to let a red Toyota Corolla drive past. Parking in front of the decrepit horror train ride, Prof. Leighton alighted and walked up the now rickety wooden steps leading into the house. An eerie, wicked laughter greeted her as opened the door.

"Is that you Lucila?" a husky female voice asked.

"It's me. I'm taking a shower and heading straight to bed. Don't bother with dinner." she instructed.

A figure stepped out of the darkness of the kitchen. She was dressed in a red cloak and did her best to shield her face from the professor. She seemed afraid of Lucila for some reason.

"Did she come to school today?"

"No. But I told her friend to make sure that she meets me before classes start tomorrow. Do you think you will have the strength to go with me?" Lucila walked over to the minibar that was embedded in the floor and poured herself a glass of red wine.

"I will be there. I want to see the person who caused me so much pain and allowed an unjust punishment to be bestowed upon me without proper reason."

"I also won't let her get away with what she did to my mother. She made me an orphan and I will never forgive her for that." Even though she was already in her early 40's, Lucila still believed that she could have learned a lot more from her mother if only they were given the chance.

"Get me my mother's diary. I wish to read it before I go to bed." she instructed the woman who dragged her left leg as she walked about. Taking the book from the top of the refrigirator, the hand that held out the brown, velvety covered book to her was frost bite gray.

****

They slept with their bodies turned away from each other that night. She knew that he was merely pretending to be asleep to avoid having to talk to her. How did Kal-El manage it? How could he have a life and still be able to do everything that their super duties dictated? Did he have episodes with Lois like she was having with Ethan more frequently now?

Linda could not fall asleep. She needed to be in his arms, feeling safe and secure, like he did every night with her. He would hold her so close to him that she could hear the every beat of his heart. She knew his heart rhythm so well that it was like a lullaby for her. This was the first time, in the history of all the fights that they had, where he refused to hug her while they slept.

"Will you keep still. I am asleep over here." he requested as he continued to feign sleep.

She did her best to lie in the prone position without moving, but then she felt a terrible pain in her stomach. It was as if Kal-El had kicked her during one of their training sessions. The pain made her sit up in bed. Something was wrong. Linda never pain like this before. It was only a little less than the pain of a Kryptonite shard embedding into her skin.

"Ethan... Ethan, I need your help." she hunched over in pain, her breathing labored.

"Let me sleep." he rolled over in bed so that his back was now facing her.

The pain began to subside and was replaced by a strange sensation in her stomach. What was going on? She would need to fly to the island the next day and ask if her parents knew anything that could make her feel ill.

****

"Better head to Leighton's office before class starts." Lucy told her as they took their seats in class.

"Did she say why?" Linda took out a handkerchief and wiped her brow. She was really worried about the human tendencies that she had been displaying since the night before. Something Ethan did not notice because he left for work without having any breakfast or saying goodybe to her. She just heard his car drive off while she was in the shower.

"What is the matter with you Linda?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. Maybe this is how somebody sick feels? " she leaned back into her student chair in the hopes that the dizziness that she was beginning to feel would go away.

"Sweat and illness are the two things that are not expected of Linda Lee Logan or Clark Kent." Lucy was visibly worried as she tried to feel her friend's forehead for her temperature.

"I'm fine. Just accompany me to Leighton's office will you?"

"We've got 10 minutes before class. We better hurry." Lucy assisted her out of her seat.

*****

Prof. Leighton's office was located in the Willis Faculty building 5 minutes away from where their classes were held. Linda did her best to compose herself before knocking on the glass door that bore the name of their teacher.

"Come in." Prof. Leighton immediately set aside her mother's diary in the right hand drawer of her desk.

"You wanted to see me professor?" Linda continued to sweat heavily. She was not beginning to look ill.

"Yes. It's about this short story you wrote for our class, "The Adventures of Arak in Orga City." I like what you wrote. It shows a lot of imagination and a strong grasp of the science fiction genre. I want you to enter it in the school's creative short story contest." she began, taking out the short essay from a pile of other papers on her desk.

"Professor, I never meant for that to be..."

"Don't tell me it never occurred to you that you really have the talent for this." Leighton held out the application form to her. She was obviously not going to take no for an answer.

"I haven't. I mean, I don't think I can compete. It's only my first written story..."

"Piece of advise Ms. Logan, when your professor tells you to go for it, you are supposed to say, thank you for the opportunity." she forced the application form into her student's hand.

Linda held the form in her hands and stared at it for a while. "Thank you Prof. Leighton."

"Now then, I will see you in class."

"Yes Ma'am." she got up from her chair and turned on her heels out the door.

The professor got up from her seat and closed the blinds in her office to block out the morning sun. The familiar cloaked figure materialized within a cloud of a lightly swirling fog in the middle of the room.

"Was that her Bianca? Is she the one who can lead me to my mother's killer?"

"Yes Lucila, that is "the wimp" as your mother called her. It is only a matter of time now."


	4. The Seeds Of A Legacy

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**The Seeds of A Legacy**

_Selena Rebecca Stanwyck had always been interested in the occult as a child. Maybe it was because her mother allowed her to watch all those comical witch shows back in the day. Influenced by shows like Bewitched and I Love Jeannie, she found herself being drawn more and more towards the possible actual basis of the magick andf occult that she saw performed on the show. It was later on life when she met and fell in love with the man who would become Lucila's father, a drifter who taught Selena how to read tarot cards and tea leaves. After leaving her stranded with their child near Lake Tahoe, Selena fell into the company of Nigel who brought her back to Midvale and introduced her to Bianca. _

_The Vinzenzo Circus was owned by the family of Bianca Maria for many generations. The business came into Bianca's hands eventually and collapsed under her mismanagement. Nigel hoped that by having Selena as part of the circus would help her out. Afterall, Selena's talent as a seer and magician was known far and wide in Lake Tahoe. Try as the women did, Selena had simply arrived too late to save the circus. Choosing to live with Bianca so that she could continue her training with Nigel, she sent Lucila to live with her grandparents indefinitely. _

_****_

"I did not hear much from her mother after I left. She never asked to see me and would not even let me visit her during the vacation periods. I grew up practically an orphan Bianca. I never really knew my mother. Even her own parents would rather pretend she did not exist because they said she was the worst possible kind of rebel. I would not have even known that she had died so violently in the hands of that freak if her death were not openly spoken about here in Midvale when I returned to look for her." Lucila related over a cup of tea with Bianca.

They were back at the abandoned circus now and poring over Selena's old journals and Book Of Shadows, hoping to find a clue as to how to finally kill Supergirl. For that was the revenge that she longed for.

"These journals speak of a magical sphere called the Omegahedron and a place called Argo City. Mother said the ball taught her about the most powerful magick in the world and the location of the center of power, Argo City." as she slowly scanned the rest of the pages, a slow dawning came upon her. She had read these depictions before. But as a fictional place. Could it be?

Bianca cringed at the mention of the Omegahedron and Argo City. After the vortex had sucked her and Selena into the Phantom Zone, they had done their best to find their way back to their real plane. It was during one of these quests that Bianca had fallen to what Selena probably thought was her death. Falling for what seemed like an infiniti, Bianca's body had frozen in the frigid temperatures of the Phantom Zone where she was held in suspended animation until the explosion of Argo City. Her frozen status had prevented her death as she was thrown through the packets of time and space until she came to rest in the forest of Midvale, physically broken but mentally alert.

She had dragged herself barely alive back to the carnival where she used whatever herbs, potions and spells she could remember to help her heal. It was only a year ago when Lucila had returned to the place and discovered her existence, helping to nurse her to the point of recovery that she was now at. Her whole body was blackish gray in color due to frostbite. The hands and feet she had were only slightly functioning thanks to the potions that Lucila regularly mixed for her to drink.

Lucila took out a file folder from her briefcase and leafed through the pages, searching for one paper in particular, the 2nd short story that Linda had submitted to her just a few days ago in class. Finding the paper, she set them side by side on the table. Comparing the contents. Was this a case of plagiarism? Or was it something else totally?

"Bianca, read these, then tell me who copied whose work." she held out the documents for her to take. Reclining in her chair, she gave the woman enough time to finish reading and analyzing the documents.

"Well I'll be..." Bianca's mouth gaped open in amazement.

"Linda Lee Logan's work is not fictional." Lucila's jaw visibly hardened as she realized the implications of what she had just uncovered.

****

"Aaaaahhhhhh! Ethan!" Linda suddenly sat up in bed as the pain in her stomach became more unbearable by the minute.

Startled by her actions, he sat up in bed and instinctively cradled her in his arms. He liked the feeling she gave him each time she called out his name because she needed him. He competely forgot who she was during these vulnerable moments. All that mattered to him was that she needed him and not Kal-El. That there were actually times in her life when she needed her husband more than her cousin.

"Shhhhh... It's okay Linda. I'm here. It's okay baby. " he gave her a kiss on the cheek and tried to massage her back. He thought she had had another of her nightmares about the implosion of Argo City. For all the strength that she possessed as Kara, she was weak when it came to the memories of her past life.

"No Ethan... the pain... I don't know why... Is... is there any sort of kryptonite around?"

His body went numb. Who would bring Kyrptonite into their house? Did anybody know that Linda and Supergirl were... Wait. Linda did not think that he would... Would she? Whatever differences they had at that very moment were forgotten. He loved her so much and the idea that she thought he would do that to her...

"No honey, there is no Kryptonite in our home. You are protected here. I will protect you. Always. I love you. " he reassured her.

"Then why do I feel this way?" Her sweat had already drenched her nightshirt to her underwear which was now very visible under her thin shirt.

"You're burning up." he touched his hand to her forehead and immediately drew it back. "Lie back. I'll go get the ice pack."

"No Ethan! Don't leave me!" Linda grabbed his arm in fear as he dropped out of their bed.

"You'll be fine Linda. Don't worry. I'll only be a minute."

****

Her body heat melted the icepacks so fast that the ice melted and the water evaporated upon contact with her skin. Nearing his wits end, he begged her to get up from bed and go to the bathroom. She barely had the strength to walk but still managed to drag herself into the bathtub which he had filled with ice cold water from the tap.

"Urrrk.." she threw her head over the side of the tub and vomitted a brownish red gel like substance.

Ethan knew he was in over his head. There was nothing he could possibly do for his wife. It was time to call for help. Using the bedroom phone, he dialled the all to familiar number that he always called when Linda was late getting home from a mission.

_"Clark Kent."_ came the sleepy voice on the other end of the line.

"Clark, it's Linda. She is throwing up and having stomach pains."

_"Have you checked for Kryptonite exposure?"_ Clark immediately switched into Kal-El mode.

"No, this is nothing like Kryptonite poisoning. I don't know what to do. Should I take her to the emergency room?"

_"What good would that do? No, just wait for me. I will be there in 2 minutes." _

****

"Kara, Kara - El can you hear me?" Kal-El lightly slapped her cheeks as she lay back, listless and seemingly unconscious in the tub. Ethan had kept the cold water running through it because her body temperature was causing the stocked water to boil.

"My stomach... I can't..." she whispered loud enough only for him to hear.

Touching her submerged stomach he realized that it was distended and larger than it had been the day before when they had visited Heritage Island. Could she have caught some sort of Kryptonian illness there?

"I can't help her here Ethan. I need to take her to the fortress." Kal-El explained upon seeing the status of his cousin. She was slumped over the edge of the tub now, too weak to move or even acknowledge his presence in the room.

"Can't we just..."

"Ethan, you know very well that no human medicine or doctor can help her. I need to get her analyzed by our equipment."

The anger on Ethan's face was slowly replaced by helplessness at the realization that for all the love he shared with this woman, he would always be too helpless to actually do anything for her once her life became endangered. He would have no choice but to let Kal-El take her once again to save the day. He nodded his head in exasperation as Kal-El picked up Kara without any effort. Something that he envied because he could never lovingly pick her up. Even though Kara was svelte in build, the reality was that as a Kryptonian, she weighed far more than the most obese human being.

"I will come back and let you know how she is doing." Kal-El assured him before he took off with Kara from the backyard.

****

"Father, we need your help." he called upon the database that Jor-El has stored into the computers of the fortress.

_"What is troubling you my son?" _came the voice of his father as he placed Kara on the examination table in the middle of the room.

This was the same table that he lay on each time he needed to heal after being exposed to various sorts of Kyrptonite. The analysis helmet immediately came up and enclosed the top area of Kara's head. Other sensor wires also came up and automatically attached to various parts of her neck, arms, wrists, and legs. His vital signs monitor immediately powered up and began monitoring his cousin whom he hoped was asleep and not unconscious.

"Kara is ill. I need to know why and what is causing it." he ordered.

_"Impossible Kal-El. There is no way that Kyrptonians can ever fall ill on this planet. This place was specifically chosen for the two of you because of the invincibility the exposure to the earth's gravity and yellow sun offered. " _Jor-El explained even as the sensors began analyzing Kara's weakened body.

"Well something is making her sick father and I fully intend to find out what it is."

_"There is nothing in my database to explain why her stomach would bloat and expand that way Kal-El. My records were not set up to handle the female anatomy of our race." _

"Mother, help me mother!" Kara cried out as she began throwing up the substance again. Her stomach seemed to be much bigger now and worried Kal-El even more.

Without even thinking twice, he picked her up and flew off in the direction of Heritage Island. Maybe Alura and Zor-El's records held the key to the cure.

****

_"There is a strange DNA strain coursing through and attacking her system. Her antibodies are trying to destroy it." _Alura's voice explained as various laser lights passed over Kara's body.

Without warning, the green laser stopped at her stomach and turned into various shades of red and blue as the scanner deepened its scan of her system. The monitor was showing him her reproductive system now. Kal-El could not believe what he was seeing.

_"No, this is impossible. Our studies indicated that the human system is highly inferior to ours. There is no way this could have happened." _Alura's voice was filled with amazement at the discovery.

_"No amount of coitus with a human being should have produced this result. No human is capable of doing it. Our studies have never been wrong before." _Zor-El's voice interrupted.

"Your studies neglected to take into consideration the power of love between two people. Love is what creates a new life. Love is what Ethan and Kara have been overflowing with for each other since the day they first met." Kal-el reasoned out.

_"This is what is making our daughter ill."_ she explained to Kal-El who was staring at the screen in utter confusion and amazement. So it was possible after all. Lois would be pleased to know this bit of news.

"How do we cure her?" he finally asked.

_"Her system will eventually adapt to the ongoing changes. This will all go by very quickly. Kal-El, you must be prepared to deal with it. Where is the husband?" _Zor-El asked.

"I shall bring him here immediately." Kal-El immediately flew off. Leaving the resting Kara on the island.

****

Ethan was sitting in the backyard with a cup of coffee in hand. The sun was about to come up and he still had not had any sleep. How could he sleep when he did not know what was wrong with his wife?

The soft rustling of the bushes told him that either Kal-El or Kara, or both had finally come back. He hoped to see his her smiling face when he looked up. Instead, it was the jubilant face of Kal-El that greeted him.

"Come with me." He picked up Ethan by the arm and flew off.

"Is Linda going to be alright?"

"No worries. She will be fine."

"What was wrong?"

"Nothing was wrong. Everything is alright. Everything is perfect." He smiled proudly at his cousin-in-law.

****

With the help of her parent's technology, Kara finally overcame the worst of her pains and had fallen asleep. Her body had finally sorted out the changes happening within her and soon would be ready to perform the task that it was due to complete.

"Meet your parent's in law Ethan." he introduced Alura and Zor-El to Ethan as their holographic images presented themselves when they landed in the dome.

"What? Where am I?" he tried to collect his wits about him. He was still trying to get used to the idea of the Fortress of Solitude and now Kal-El had taken him to a new and strange island.

"You are standing on Heritage Island. Kara's own private piece of Argo City on Earth." Kal-El explained while Ethan tried to take in as much of the dome as he could.

"What are we doing here?"

_"Ethan, you have done something that our Kryptonian science said was impossible. Your relationship with our daughter has rendered eons of human study on our part in error. "_ The image of Zor-El flickered as he spoke, Alura standing by his side with an expression of deep concern on her face.

"Where's Kara?" Ethan began to worry. He had not seen her since they arrived. He seemed to not have heard a word they said.

She had been placed in an isolation chamber to help ease her pains as her stomach steadily grew in size. It was only a matter of time now.

"Ethan, there is something you need to understand." Kal-El began to explain as he led the way to the isolation chamber.

"Wow! What the hell is happening to Kara! What did you do to her?" Ethan was both surprised and angered by the status of his wife.

She was now pale gray in color and seemed to be sapped of all strength. The one thing the isolation chamber could not cancel out were her painful moans at she entered the final stages of the process.

"She's pregnant Ethan, and in labor." The words struck him hard.

"What???? What the hell are you talking about?" he leaned back against the glass wall of the room for support. His legs seemed to suddenly lack the strength to keep him standing.

"You are about to become a father." Kal-El stated matter of factly.

"No. Kara told me it wasn't possible. That's why we never used protection. Human's can't get Kryptonians pregnant and vice versa!" he wasn't sure what to feel at that moment.

"It's possible. Look at the monitor." Kal-El pulled the touch screen closer to them to show Ethan the progress of the fetus. It was now a full term baby ready to join the world.

"All the stomach pain and throwing up, it was her system going haywire because of the human DNA that fertilized her egg. The zygote made her sick because your DNA is a foreign body. Her system came under attack as it speedily developed into an embryo. The system did not know what to do with your sperm. We were finally able to stabilize her system enough to allow the fetus to develop without doing her further harm. "

"But the infanticipating process takes 9 months." Ethan tried to recall his human reproduction lessons in high school.

_"For humans. But in Kara's case, it was sped up. Everything about her is different here. Normally, a Kryptonian pregnancy takes 5 months. " _Alura's voice spoke out of nowhere.

"Who said that?!"

"That was your mother in law." Kal-El explained.

"Kara's parents survived?"

"No. These are just computer reproductions of their voices."

Ethan looked confused and dumbfounded more than ever.

_"Kal-El, it's time!" _Zor-el's voice had a sense of urgency to it. The monitors attached to Kara were also sending off deafening warning signals.

"Wait here!" he ordered Ethan as the glass door before them slid open.

Ethan watched as Kal-El cut Kara's nightshirt open to reveal her over extended stomach that looked ready to explode. Kara lay a sweating heap on the table, grimacing in pain.

"Ethan! I need Ethan!" she screamed as Kal-El marked the area he was going to cut through with the sanitized crystal blade.

_"Talk to her." _Alura prodded him.

"She can't hear me." he felt creeped out to be speaking to the disembodied voice of his mother-in-law.

_"She can and she will. Trust her. Trust what you feel for her to connect the two of you." _

He took a deep breath before thinking of the words he wanted to tell her.

_"I'm here Kara. You are not going through this alone."_ the words raced through his mind.

To his amazement, he heard her answer the same way. _"I did not know... Are you happy? I told you it could never happen. I was wrong. We never discussed starting a family..." _

He saw Kal-El use his gloved hands to pry her stomach open. Taking the child out of the placenta, he cut the umbilical cord and turned away with the child in his arms.

_"The two of you have now come full circle. You have a family now. A healthy child." _He heard Kal-El's thoughts as well.

There was something strange about this island as far as Ethan was concerned. People seemed to communicate only by thoughts and spoke to people who were dead. But he was not going to dwell on that now.

They were thrust into a role neither of them were ready for. Was Kara ready to be a mother? Was he ready to be a father?


	5. Ready Or Not

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**Ready Or Not ...**

The two men allowed Kara to rest after the ordeal she had just gone through. Kal-El took charge of cleaning up the first child in the new generation of Kryptonians, a baby girl whose looks duplicated that of her mother with a slight hint of her father's genes. She had Kara's strong jaw line, mouth, and eyes to prove her Kryptonian heritage while also embodying her human father through her nose structure, skin, and hair color. It was still too soon to tell how much of the Kryptonian traits the child carried... or not.

Kal-El had gone back to Metropolis to let them know the good news and ask for their help in preparing the Logan household for the new arrival. Ethan stood over the makeshift crib in what seemed to be Kara's bedroom on the island, watching his daughter sleep in the crib that Kal-El had fashioned out of the stalactites hanging in this cave that sheltered them.

The child was wrapped in a blanket that carried the House Of El coat of arms, the all too familiar S emblem. He still could not believe that he and Kara had brought this child into the world in such an amazing way. He was still in disbelief at the thought that he was now a father and Kara, a mother.

They had no time to prepare. How did one act as a parent? More importantly, how does one parent a child whose mother was not of this earth? Surely the child would have the same skills has her mother and uncle. Was Ethan ready to have a child who could whip his butt if he so much as scolded her for missing curfew? All too suddenly, he began feeling emasculated. Now he not only had a wife who could whip him with one hand tied behind her back and blindfolded, but he had a child, whose abilities were still unknown, who could toss him around their house as a form of child's play.

But as he watched her sleeping, so helpless and serene, at that very moment, the one instinct that overtook his being was protectiveness. He knew that for a portion of this child's life, she would need a father to protect her and love her unconditionally. His protective feelings were further heightened by the realization that she would probably be less prone to the negative effects of Kryptonite exposure because of the human genes within her. But nobody really knew anything at this point. How human was she? Or was she all Kryptonian? All of these thoughts and mixed emotions were running through his mind. There was very little he could do to process it all constructively.

"Ethan? Honey, come and lie beside me." Kara's voice was still weak from the effects of the cesarian section Kal-El had performed on her. The cut had healed almost immediately but she still needed time to regain her strength.

Slipping into bed next to her, he pulled her closer to him so that her head now rested on his shoulder. She closed her eyes in contentment. Wishing that they could just stay on the island and live that way forever.

"Kara..." he whispered her name as her breathing began to indicate that she was falling asleep.

"Huunh?"

"I love you and our child more than either of you will ever know." he professed in a very low voice so as not to wake the child.

"I know Ethan." she breathed her reply as she began to doze off.

He too felt tired from taking care of Kara all night. After a long yawn, he began to nod off to sleep as well. For a long time, all was perfect on Heritage Island. The line of succession had been insured and the Kryptonian legacy was sure to pass onto the next generation of children. Even if they were only half breeds, the House of El's existence was insured.

****

Kal-El had flown all the way back to the Kent family farm in Smallville to get all of his childhood furniture for his niece. Flying to and from the Logan house with the speed of light, he had managed to transfer all the things needed within a matter of minutes. Taking the spare key from he bottom of the fake rock in the patio flowerbed, he entered the house and got on the phone.

_"Lois? Clark here. I need you to round up Jimmy and Lucy then come down to Linda's place. There is something we need to do for them. Tell you guys all about it when you get here." _

****

"So you are telling me that you are now an uncle?" Lois asked him as the group moved the furniture out of Linda's study and into Ethan's office. Since her study was closest to the master's bedroom, it was decided that it would serve the higher purpose of being a nursery to the child.

"I am now a proud uncle of a first generation Kryptonian." Clark beamed as he lifted the book shelf, with all the books intact, off the floor and into the next room.

"Does she have a name yet? I hope it isn't something cheesy like Frangipani." Lucy asked while wallpapering the room with sky blue wallpaper adorned with running puppies and kittens.

"I happen to like the Frangipani blossom." Lois countered as she set down the basket of baby supplies she had picked up on her way to the house.

"No, no, they haven't chosen a name yet. Linda is still resting."

"Can we visit her? Where is she? At Midvale Gen?" Jimmy asked while continuing to smear the walls with paste.

"Well... it's kinda complicated." Clark began.

****

The soft cry of their daughter woke the sleeping couple. Their faces registered confusion and wonder as they looked into each others eyes, looking for a clue as to what to do now that the child was awake.

"What do we do?" Ethan reached for his shirt at the foot of the bed and put it on. Unlike the arctic freeze temperature at the Fortress of Solitude, Heritage island's climate reminded him more of Hawaii.

She leaned against the wall and thought back to her Kryptonian biology lessons. She was a mother now. What did the lesson say?

"Ethan, bring her to me." she finally figured out why the child may have been softly crying.

"I can't pick her up!" Ethan complained for two reasons. First of all, he had no idea how to carry a baby and second, he was not sure the child would be light enough for him to carry since he could not even carry her mother in his arms.

"She hasn't been exposed to the yellow sun yet. You can do it." she encouraged him. "Please try?"

"So that is where all your power comes from? Our planet's sun? Then why don't you weaken at night?" He never really did understand where the cousins got their power from. He never bothered to ask Kara and she never bothered to volunteer information about it either.

"We take our power from two sources, the yellow sun and the earth's gravitational pull. Now please, get our daughter before she starts getting louder." Kara motioned towards the crib as the soft cry was beginning to turn into a wail.

He was surprised at how light she was when he took her into his arms. Gingerly supporting her head, he held her as close as possible to his own body while taking her back to the bed. As if knowing that she was in her father's arms, the little one curled her baby lips into a smile. Ethan could not help but smile back at her and give her a loving kiss on the forehead.

Kara carefully took her and held her close to her chest. The sound of her heartbeat seemed to have a soothing effect on the child who nuzzled up to her and then opened her smiling eyes at the woman who had just given her life. Her tongue darting in and out as Kara playfully tickled her chin.

"I think she's hungry." Kara surmised as the child began to cry again.

"Hungry... right... how do we... how do you... we don't have anything to feed to her!" Ethan was feeling exasperated. What a mess they had drawn themselves into.

"No,no.. we don't need anything except this." Kara dropped the left shoulder of her gown low enough so that she could offer her exposed breast to the baby who took to her nipple almost immediately.

"How did you know?" Ethan wondered. The last thing he imagined was that Kryptonian women breastfed their young.

"Isn't this what Earth mother's do? This is how it was done on Krypton and Argo City."

"Yes, it's just that I never thought..."

"Our people carry more similarities than just love and sex Ethan." she smiled lightly at him.

Coming closer to his family, he thought about how perfect their life was now that they had their unexpected bundle of joy. She was the culmination of their love. The bond that would forever join their hearts and souls no matter what happened in their lives. But they could not go around the rest of their lives referring to the baby as "her".

"We need to name her already." he suggested. "We can't keep calling the baby "it" and "her."

"I know honey. Have you got any ideas?" Kara adjusted her holding pattern to make the child and herself more comfortable during the feeding process. The child cooed as she adjusted the feeding position after the nipple slipped out of her mouth.

He thought for a while before replying. "I'm drawing a blank. If we had a son, I know what his name would have definitely been.

"Ethan Logan Jr." Kara replied as she lovingly lowered her head onto his shoulder. The baby was beginning to fall asleep again.

"That's it! The perfect name for our baby!" Kara pronounced excitedly after a few moments of silence between them had passed.

'You can't name her Ethan!" he began to protest.

"No silly! We'll name her after me." The baby finally closed her eyes again and let go of her mother's nipple. Kara took the opportunity to cover up her exposed breast with one hand.

"Which name?"

"Both."

"Kara Linda? Nice."

"No. Not 2 names. Just one."

"Karalinda." Ethan smiled as he said his petname for his wife. It was a term he used when he was just overflowing with his love and desire for her.

"Exactly. Karalinda. She is the final outcome of my humanization Ethan. She is whom I wish to be, just one person. She is the hybrid of all that makes me Kryptonian and human. The combination of my two personages in one being."

"Karalinda...." Ethan seemed to think about it for a moment then smiled. "I like it."

"Our little Karalinda." Kara lovingly placed the child on the space between them so they could continue to watch her as she slept.

"She's Kali. To me, you will always be my Karalinda." he reached over to the back of her head and slowly brought her closer to share a kiss.

"Come to mother Kali." Kara lovingly picked up the child after they parted.

****

Lucila drove up to the front of the Logan house with the full intention of being invited inside so she could stake out the enemy territory and figure out how to attack Linda at her weakest moment. She needed to know if her mother was speaking the truth. That the wimp and Supergirl were one and the same person. She needed more proof than just the similar creative writing stories that Linda was submitting in class.

"I'm sorry we can't invite you in." Clark informed her. "Linda and Ethan are not here and we are trying to get some repairs done before they get back. "

"Will she be back in school on Monday?" she asked.

"If she can get some help around the household, she will be." Clark responded. He stepped out of the door and closed it behind him.

"What kind of help? Maybe I can be of assistance?"

"No, really, it is a family problem." He was referring to the babysitting problem that Linda would be facing when she got back from the island.

"Well, if you need any help at all..."

"Actually, " Clark cut her off so that he could get a word in edgewise. "It would be great if ou could give Linda some time off from school. Maybe give her homework instead?"

"Whatever for Mr. Kent? She is doing wonderfully in class."

"She just needs the time. There is a big adjustment happening in her life right now."

"I am sure Linda can explain such a request to me. I will be back tomorrow to talk to her. Please let her know." Lucila knew when something was not going her way.

"Of course. I'm really sorry you missed them." Clark replied.

****

"Did you do it?" Bianca asked Lucila upon her return. She was itching to begin exacting their revenge on Linda Lee Logan and Supergirl.

"No. She wasn't there and her cousin would not let me in. There will be another chance." Lucila walked over to the fridge and took out a can of beer.

"Catch." she threw the other can towards Bianca who caught and opened it.

"What are we toasting to?" Bianca wanted to know as she took a long sip to stop the foam from spilling out.

"The beginning of the demise of Supergirl." Lucila held her can up in the air as a toast.


	6. A Painful Revelation

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**A Painful Revelation**

Having regained her strength, Kara was now busy preparing for the flight back home. As she straightened up the quarters, she could not help but wonder at the miracle of life that came out of her not more than 48 hours ago. Watching Ethan carry Kali in his arms, he looked so content, happy, and fulfilled. She wondered when the last time was that Ethan looked at her with those eyes filled with love and admiration. The baby changed a lot between them. Now they had another life to be responsible for. Their lives had changed without warning. Little did Ethan know that Kara was filled with dread at having to go back to their normal lives in Midvale. She was filled with apprehension at the thought of what powers Kali might accidentally display in public. Did she have any powers? Was her daughter half Kryptonian or all human?

Seemingly hearing her thoughts, her mother's voice echoed throughout the room.

_"Kara, Ethan, please go to the communication center. Zor-El and I have some things to explain before you leave. " _

"On our way mother." Kara responded. Making a motion to take Kali from Ethan, she signaled for him to follow her. The cave was huge and confusing to those who did not live on Argo City in the past.

"I can handle her." Ethan turned away from Kara, refusing to give up the child in his arms.

She smiled at him. Letting him enjoy his daughter in his arms was the least she could do for him. After all, he had done everything he could to help her ease into the human world during all those years when she needed someone to give her unwavering support. Now, they would both need to be very supportive each other as they faced the lifelong task ahead of them.

The huge monitor in the room had been turned on and showed an animated growth chart which Kara understood without any explanation. The computers had projected the changes that Kali would undergo the minute she left the island and was exposed to the yellow sun. She felt extreme sadness as the thought that Ethan was going to be disappointed with matters that he was powerless to change.

A pair of wide rocks jetted out of the walls within the solid rock floor. It reminded Kara of the seats they had back on Argo City. Perhaps this is why her parents chose to call this place Heritage Island. Everything about it made her feel very comfortable and at home. It was like being back on Argo City and bringing her new family with her for a visit.

Everything that made the island special to Kara was actually beginning to get on Ethan's nerves. It was only slowly beginning to dawn upon him that he knew nothing about his wife's past life. Where she came from, what it was like there, who she was there. All he knew about her was who she chose to become on Earth -- Linda. All of a sudden, he felt like he did not know this woman who had given him this child.

Zor-El's voice floated from an unseen source as the monitors in the room magically came to life.

_"There are some things that the two of you must understand about Kali before you leave the island. She is not an ordinary baby and special care and understanding will be required, most specially of you Ethan. Since you are not familiar with the Kyryptonian ways. " _

"What is it that I need to understand? Is my child an alien?" he asked. A moot question since Kara was not of the human race either. But she looked, felt, and acted as a human. She was human in every eay as far as he was concerned. She just wasn't born on earth. His daughter was, she was human, more human than Kryptonian then.

_"Ethan, when Kara first came to earth, she was only 12 years old. But the length of time it took to travel to earth from innerspace and her exposure to the sun and gravity of the planet rapidly aged her by 3 years. She was the equivalent of a 16 year old earthling when you met her. The same thing is going to happen to Kali when you leave this island. What we cannot predict, is how much aging will happen when she is exposed to the same elements because of her human DNA." _Zor-El explained.

Ethan had no idea that Kara had rapidly aged when she entered the earth's atmosphere. But since it was a thing of her past, he concerned himself more with the future of this daughter. What were they trying to say?

"So when we leave here..."

_"The atmosphere of the island is equal to that of Argo City. Here, she will age as any normal child would. But when you leave, she will undergo a rapid aging process and we do not know how far advanced she will be in mental and physical development by the time you land at your home." _

The anger that registered on Ethan's face was one that Kara had never seen before. He looked like he was ready to explode as he looked upon Kali.

"Talk to me Ethan. Honey..." she held him when she noticed his body begin to shake. He allowed her to take the child from his arms at that point.

He felt cheated. So, his daughter was not human after all. He would be cheated out of the important events in her life by alien science. There as nothing about the child that would be a part of him.

_"...But eventually, the rapid aging should cease as her human DNA begins to completely merge with the Kryptonian genes within the child."_ Ethan no longer heard Zor-El's words. All he could hear was that his child was not normal. She wasn't going to grow like a human child and he would be cheated out of being part of her everyday development as a child.

"No! My child is normal! Our child is normal! Tell me the truth Kara! Tell me Kali is human in some way!" He demanded of his wife who was overcome by the shocking anger in his voice.

"Ethan... I... I don't know... I can't...." She stammered as she tried to find the right words to tell him.

_"She cannot tell you anything Ethan. This is the first case of a cross-breed child in the history of our race. Kali is the first of her kind and therefore, we should all learn that the unexpected should be expected." _The drone of the computer generated voice made Ethan want to hurl something at the console in disgust.

The dome above slowly opened up to allow Kal-El to fly in. "Everyone ready to go back to Midvale?"

"In a minute Kal-El" Kara tugged on Ethan's shirt sleeve to lead him back to their room.

"Ethan, please, don't be this way. Kali is our child. Regardless of what powers she displays or does not display, she is still half of me and half of you." she tried to reason with him.

Placing the child into his arms, she watched as he went over to the bed and sat down. He was staring at the baby with sadness in his eyes. This was not what he was expecting their family life to be like. He at least expected her to have a normal childhood. To build up memories of her growing up and swapping stories with his other employees who already had daughters of their own.

"I just need time to let the information sink in Kara. Please don't rush me."

****

Kara cradled their daughter in her arms as they flew back to Midvale. He thought was filled with worry as Ethan displayed signs of rejecting their daughter because of the unexpected revelation. She could only hope that he would eventually get on board and realize that Kali still needed her father's love, even if she was not totally human.

Just as Zor-El had predicted, Kali had aged by one year before they were able to land in Midvale. The child that she had cradled in her arms upon taking off from Heritage Island was now sitting atop her mother's back and holding on to her cape.

"Here's the new family!" Lucy declared as the group touched down in the backyard of the house. They had put together a small spread and a small cake with the words "Welcome to the World Baby Logan" printed across it.

"Woah! That's no newborn baby!" Jimmy declared upon seeing the little girl disembark from her mother's back. The clothes of the child needed changing as it had ripped all over her body during the rapid aging process.

"Kara! What happened? Rapid aging only happens..." Kal-El asked in surprise.

"Father explained that there was no way we could predict what would happen to Kali when we left the island." She looked at Ethan as she tried to explain why the newborn baby was now taking toddler steps with her help.

"Who cares Clark?" Lois interrupted. "What matters is that everybody is fine and in the pink of health."

The room fell silent as they watched the little girl grasp her mother's hand and then stick her thumb into her mouth.

"I think we should go get what's her name dressed." Lucy broke the silence that could have been sliced with a knife.

"Karalinda. Her name is Karalinda. But we call her Kali. " Kara explained.

"What a sweet name." Lucy responded.

"Has anybody seen Ethan?" Linda asked.

The sound of a car door opening and then closing reached her super hearing. She did not need her x-ray vision to know who it was. Ethan had left the premises without even welcoming the guests or his daughter to their home.

****

Lucila had walked around to the back of the house after nobody answered the doorbell after 4 rings. She saw the party ongoing and realized that something important must have happened in the life Linda aka Supergil. Whatever it was, she needed to be in on it. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the wooden gate and caught the attention of Linda.

"Ms. Leighton, what a pleasant surprise." Linda remarked as she unlatched the gate to let her teacher in. "What brings you over?"

"I wanted to deliver the news personally. Your short story is a finalist in the competition." Her eye was suddenly caught by the precocious little girl who was bouncing off Clark Kent's lap and laughing heartily at the game. She could not have been more than a year old and yet the child seemed to be far advanced in physical development for her age.

"My daughter." Linda explained as she led the way to the picnic table where the food and drinks were placed.

"The reason why your cousin said you will need time off this semester?"

"If it would be possible, I would like to take home the lessons and turn it in for a grade on the deadline. My child, she is at that stage..."

"Say no more. " Lucila cut in. "I have always admired mother's who try to do it all for their child. Have you given any thought to a nanny for her?"

"Her name is Kali and no, I thought I could try and do it all myself for a time."

"Interesting name. Tell you what, I will let you have all the time you need to complete your class requirements. Would you consider using a nanny I recommend? Just so you can still go to school on the days when you absolutely have to. "

"I could definitely use one." she replied appreciatively.

"I will send her over tomorrow then. She is between jobs now and this would be a blessing for her. "

****

She had an extra bounce in her step when she returned to the carnival. She never thought it would be this easy to gain the confidence and trust of Linda. Now, they were in and coudl finally plot how to exact vengance upon her.

Bianca opened the door for her. "I got you into the Logan household. The rest is up to you."


	7. Emasculation & Insecurities

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**Emasculation & Insecurities**

Ethan drove around town aimlessly trying to clear his head. He had just witnessed his daughter age a full year before his very eyes. He smiled as he remembered how much Kali looked like her mother. Even her hazelnut hair color was a sure sign he would have a blonde haired daughter in the future. He was sure that the color would lighten even further as she grew.

Maybe he was wrong to have walked out on them. Maybe he should have given his daughter a chance. She could not be all Kryptonian right? Somehow, there should be a part of her which was still his to claim, a human part. Maybe... maybe...

He pulled into Sal's Joint and ordered a draft. this place held a lot of memories for him. This bar had been rebuilt from the ruins of the runaway tractor that had attacked Ethan all those years ago when he was under Selena's love spell. It was the place he always returned to after Kara had left him to go back to Argo City. Now it looked like a typical restaurant bar that served pretty decent fast food. It was basically the cheapest place to have a drink or meal in Midvale.

This was just the place he needed to be at right now. He needed to think about everything that just happened. Just as Linda was not ready to be a mother, he had no idea about how to be a father. Being a father to a human baby was one thing, a Kryptonian child on the other hand, was way over his head. Maybe he could think better here. With a cold glass of beer in one hand and a smoke in the other.

Joel and Vicki walked into the bar while he was drinking his fourth mug for the night. Most of the people in the area went there because they could have a beer and a meal at the same time. Ethan was not a regular there as far as they knew. He was always in a hurry to get home to his wife.

"We missed you at the office today Ethan. You did not even call in. Luckily we had a slow day and Vicki and I were able to field the calls and inquiries..." he began as he took a seat next to Ethan at the bar. Vicki had already taken a table for 3 in case he decided to join them.

"Thanks for doing that. Linda and I had something important to attend to. I did not have the time to make arrangements. Anyway, I don't think the business will implode if I leave it unattended for a day or so." Ethan explained. His tone of voice told Joel that he wanted to be left alone.

"Is there a problem Ethan? You looked troubled. Anything we can do to help?"

"No. I am just celebrating. I'll have another one." Ethan lifted his draft mug towards the bartender for a refill.

"Well don't celebrate alone. If you are celebrating. Nobody should drink alone boss." Joel led him to the table where Vicki sat patiently waiting for them to join her.

****

Lucila was hunched over the kitchen table working on a mix of roots and herbs. If she was to successfully get Bianca into the house of Linda, she would need to be able to disguise herself for hours at a time and have full use of her arms and legs. She needed Bianca to be seen as a normal person. She hoped that the spell she found in her mother's Book of Shadows would do the trick. It sounded like a simple enough incantation but in Bianca's severely weakened state, she wondered if her mother's former apprentice could somehow muster the energy to make it work.

"You just work on getting the potion right and let me worry about the energy to make it work." she was told as they shared a simple dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes.

They both had a lot riding on Bianca successfully getting into the Logan household. Selena had mentioned her doubts in her journal about how she believed that Linda and Kara from Argo City were one and the same woman. By having her under constant surveillance, Lucila hoped to prove her mother right or wrong and get her revenge accordingly. Kara would pay with her life for what she did to Selena.

The potion was finally ready. She transferred one dose into a shot glass and made Bianca drink it. "If this works, we are on easy street."

It was difficult for her to drink the greenish goo that smelled like a combination of moldy old socks and a wet dog. Pinching her nose, Bianca opened her mouth and drank it all up in one gulp.

"Where's the spell?" she asked. She had only one minute to say the spell to make the potion effective. Otherwise, she would just throw up.

Lucila held up the paper to Bianca's face and listened as Bianca recited the incantation.

_"__Witches great and witches wise,  
shield me now from watchful eyes,  
let them look and let them see,  
the image of that I wish to be! __"_

In a matter of seconds, Bianca was transformed into a petit red head of eighteen years. Gone were the battle scars from her fall, her hunch back disappeared and in its place was the sexy figure of a college freshman. The image of Bianca from her younger years was now magickally restored to its full glory. There were absolutely no traces of the almost beaten Bianca from a few moments ago.

"Wonderful! Your talent for spells and potions is comparable to your mothers. " Bianca complimented Lucila as she admired her new incarnation in the full length mirror standing in the corner of the kitchen.

Lucila beamed with pride. To her, the highest compliment she could ever receive in life was to be told how much like her mother she was.

"I'll whip up a larger batch so you can carry it in a flask with you tomorrow. I have no idea how long the spells I create will last." she responded, turning once again to the potion pot.

"Just listen to my instructions. Your mother taught me the art of almost permanent spell casting. Now, I am going to pass it on to you."

*****

"Where is your husband Kara?" Kal-El wondered as Jimmy began setting up the photo area in the living room. Kali had just learned how to super run and kept her mother quite busy chasing after her. Right now, Kara was trying to feed the child some baby food. Most if which was ending up on her shirt.

"I don't know Kal-El. He left without a word after we got back. I think he is mad at me for some reason."

"Why? Did something happen at the island that you forgot to tell me?"

"My parents spoke to us. About the way Kali will develp faster than the other kids here." She looked sadly at her daughter who was struggling to get out of the high chair that Kara had tied her into. Luckily, she did not have super strength yet and the towel binding held her in place.

Kal-El smiled as he remembered how suprised the Kents were at how fast his physical and mental development was after they had taken him from the wreckage of his transporter pod. So, his niece would undergo the same thing. But Ethan still had no reason to leave Kara without backup. Afterall, Kali was his child as well.

"I remember how my human parents freaked out over the powers I began to display when they found me. I lifted the jeep over my father's head when I was only a little bigger than Kali is now. I think they lived most of their lives afraid of me as a child because of it. But they loved me wholeheartedly just the same. Will this be a problem for Ethan? Do you want me to talk to him?" he offered.

Lois entering the dining room interrupted the cousins talk. "Time for you and Kali to freshen up Linda. Better give Ethan a heads up as well. Where is he? I haven't seen him since you guys got here."

"We'll be ready in 5 minutes!" Lucy hollered while she helped Jimmy adjust the lighting in the room.

Kara looked up helplessly at Kal-El. She wanted to go after her husband and talk to him. Find out what was going on within him and hopefully, help him get over whatever was troubling him.

"I'll bring him home." Kal-El squeezed her shoulder lightly as he bent over to reassure her.

"Come with Auntie Lois Kali. Mommy needs to rest and freshen up before the pictures are taken." she picked up the little girl and carried her to the playpen, ignoring the fact that her question remained unanswered. Whatever Linda and Ethan were going through, she was sure Clark would tell her about in due time.

"Thank you." Linda mouthed to Lois as she motioned that she was going up to take a shower and change into fresh clothes.

*****

Everyone at the table decided that Ethan was mumbling nonsense about his marriage producing a super child who aged from a 2 day old child to a year old overnight by simply being exposed to the yellow sun. With his speech beginning to slur and being unable to stand on his own, they wondered as to who could take him home since they all brought their cars with them.

"I can take him." Vicki volunteered, snatching his car keys from the table. "Help me get him to his car."

"That won't be necessary." a strange male voice instructed. Clark emerged from the smoke filled area of the bar entrance.

"Mr. Kent. Always a pleasure." Joel held out his hand for a handshake.

"How many drinks had he had?" Clark was visibly concerned.

"He's had about 20 's kind of getting to him already. But he looks like he can still have a few more rounds. " Joel volunteered.

What they did not realize was that Clark's concern was more for what his cousin-in-law may have said about Kara and the baby to his companions. He did not think that they would believe his tall tales but he would rather not take any chances. Afterall, everybody knew that Supergirl was real. Where she stayed and who she really was, that was the mystery most people wished to unravel.

"Did he say anything about why he did this?"

"Yeah. Something about siring a superchild of sorts. Of course we all know that can only happen if he knocked up Supergirl... and that will never even knows how she shows up when she does."

"If they only knew." Kal-El thought. "Let's go Ethan."

"I am not going home to that freak show." Ethan slurred his speech as he spoke. He downed his 16th mug for the night and banged it on the table, a signal for another mug to be served.

"No more drinks for you get us a large coffee, black, to go please? " Clark told the waitress who came forward to refresh his drink.

"Ethan, don't make me pull you out of that chair." there was a warning tone in his voice as he spoke.

Ethan was on thin ice with him. Not only was he stupidly telling others their family secret, but he also called Kara and Kali freaks. It took a lot for him not to hurl him across the room with one hand at that point.

"No Kal-El. I am not going with you. Leave me alone! Go back to wherever it is you came from!"

"What did he call you?" Vicki asked. She had been silently listening all this time. Trying to figure out Ethan's weakness that she could exploit to her advantage.

"Nothing. It's a family nickname. C'mon Ethan." he picked up Ethan by the collar of his shirt and pretended to have a hard time hoisting over his shoulder as they left the bar.

****

"Drink this. There is no way I am taking you home in this state. " Clark held out the large styrofoam coffee cup to Ethan. He sat Ethan on the hood of the car, hoping to sober him up enough to drive back to his house alone. Otherwise, he would have to fly the car back with Ethan in it.

"I told you, I don't want to go back!" he pushed the hand away from him.

"Damn it Ethan! Why are you doing this? This is not the way I thought you would be as a family man." Clark held back his flaring temper.

"Family? I just found out that I knew nothing about the woman I married, my parents in law are bodiless voices, Kara has an island only she and Kali can get to at any given time, and my child is a freak of science and nature!"

"Stop it Ethan! Don't say another word. I am warning you. You will regret it!" Clark warned him, the contempt for the man Kara married was becoming evident in his voice. He would not think twice about putting this man in his place if it became necessary to do so.

"I have no place in this "family"! I was used! I was just the babymaker! The sperm donor ! The..."

Without warning and almost unseen due to its speed, Kal-El's fist made contact with Ethan's jaw, sending him flying off the car and into the brick wall of the deserted parking lot. His body fell to the ground with a loud thud. Ethan felt the power of the punch course through his body. He ached all over. His jaw felt like it was going to fall off.

"That is it! I have had it! I am a man too Kal-El! Give me some respect!" He tried to throw a defensive punch when he finally got to his feet.

Kal-El merely caught his fist and forced it down to Ethan's side.

"I don't want to hurt you! You are my cousin's husband! Don't force me to hit you again!"

"You don't want to hurt me? You don't even respect me as Kara's husband!"

"Ethan, stop it! You don't know what you are saying!"

Walking drunkenly towards his car, he dropped the keys as he fished it out of his pocket.

"I am going to go home. But only to get my clothes. I can't deal with any of this right now. You people, you Kryptonians, you don't know what it is like, being taken for granted at every turn." He closed the door and sped off.

Kal-El ran at superspeed while changing clothes. He needed to beat Ethan to the house. He dreaded what would happen next.

****

Jimmy had stepped outside for a smoke while waiting for Ethan to get back for the shoot. He crushed the cigarette under his shoe when the familiar car pulled into the driveway.

"Where'd you go buddy?" he did not notice that Ethan was drunk when he stepped out of the car.

"Don't start Jimmy. Where's Linda?" he took a few steps towards the patio and fell forward. Jimmy caught him just in time.

"Are you okay?" Jimmy smelled the beer on his friend immediately. Linda was not going to like this.

Ethan began vomiting over Jimmy's shoulder. The acidic smell of beer and semi digested food filled the air.

****

"Just remember Kara, you need to give him space. Let him leave if he wants to. He needs to sort this out on his own. We cannot help him." Kal-El had arrived 20 minutes earlier than Ethan and was already talking to Kara in the office when they heard the car pull up.

"But why? What happened? What did I do?" Kara did not think that things could escalate this far so fast and so badly between them.

"You have done nothing Kara. This is all just too much for an ordinary human being to take in all at once. He will come around. Just be strong." Lois advised. Kal-El had asked her and Lucy to join them in order to give Kara a human female perspective on the situation.

"I just don't understand why he could shun us in this manner. This is not his personality at all."

"I told you the two of you had rushed into this whole thing way back in high school!" Lucy reminded her best friend. "You barely knew him and he did not know you at all."

"That's enough Lucy. She feels bad enough as it is." Lois scolded her sister.

"What's going on back there?" Kara stood up and headed to the front door. She picked up on Ethan's wretching with her super hearing.

She stopped in the hall where Kali was learning to walk on her own. Surrounded by her hand me down toys, she was holding on to the coffee table as she tried to pull herself up from the floor. Seeing her mother standing at the entrance to the room, the little girl smiled widely and held her arms out as she took baby steps towards her. Kara picked up the child and gave her a kiss.

"No matter what happens Kali, your dad and I do love you."

****

She helped Ethan up to their room while everyone cleared out for the night. He reeked of beer and cigarettes, two habits which he swore off when she came to become his housemate 5 years ago. What happened since then? Why had their relationship fallen apart in so short a time? They were so happy before, but after she took on more duties as Supergirl, he seemed to become insecure. Now, the arrival of Kali had changed the dynamics of their relationship even more.

"Talk to me Ethan..." she begged him as he continued to pack his things silently. She sat on the corner of the bed trying to control the mixture of emotions that were running through her heart and mind.

"There is nothing left to say Linda. I just need to get away. I can't be here right now. I cannot handle this. Not yet. I am not ready. I don't want this life right now." He did not even bother to stop and look at her as he spoke.

"What makes you think I am ready for this? I did not even know I was pregnant!" she resented the insinuation that he was the only one taken by suprise by the birth of their child.

"It's different for you. You are her mother. Kali is more Kyrptonian than anything else. I just need to to reconcile everything in my mind and in my heart. That's why I need to leave."

"Why can't we do it together? Why can't we go on this journey together? I don't know the first thing about parenting. We should be helping each other." her explanation fell on deaf ears.

"You don't need me Kara. You never did. All you ever needed was Kal-El. He is your true family. He knows what to do for you and Kali. I don't belong in your lives." his voice cracked as he turned to look at her.

She was wiping away her tears as he came over to her. Seeing her in this state melted his heart but his mind was made up.

"Don't cry my Karalinda." he tried to pull her closer to him but she shoved him away.

"Don't call me that if you don't mean what you are saying!"

"I mean it Kara."

"Then don't leave me. Don't leave us! We need you!"

All the while, Kali was in the next room, taking a nap in her crib. The little one awoke as her super hearing picked up on the emotions of her mother. Something was wrong. As if sensing the trouble between her parents, Kali found herself floating out of the crib, straight through the open door, and in front of her parents room.

_"Mamam? Dadad?"_ they heard her little voice on the other side of the door.

"That's Kali." she said getting up from the bed. "Please Ethan, don't go. Not for me. Don't do this to Kali."

She opened the door and the little girl floated into the room.

"Is she flying???" Ethan asked in surprise.

She was not really flying, she was only a few inches above the floor but Kara did not feel any need to explain to him. \

"What does it matter to you? You won't be here to see how special your daughter will be as she grows up anyway." Kara spoke out of hurt.

"Kara, I..." he closed the suitcase and picked it up off the bed. "I promise, I will come back. I will come home. I just need time."

He stopped to kiss his daughter before heading out the door. Kara turned away from him when he tried to kiss her.

"Dadad!" Kali cried out to her father. There was not much Kara could do to stop the little one from crying. In her innocent little mind, she somehow understood that her father was abandoning them. Was it possible to explain the situation to such a young child?

Ethan disappeared out the door and never looked back. Just like that he had chosen to leave their lives. It seemed like a very easy decision for him to make. No amount of Kara's love could make him stay. It led Kara to think, maybe he did not love her afterall?

"Hush little one. Mamam is here for you. I won't ever leave you." Kara tried to console Kali by rocking her to sleep.


	8. The Deception

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**The Deception**

Vicki arrived at the office earlier than usual. It was her turn to open the office today and that meant being there an hour before everyone else so that she could tidy up the place and prepare all the daily equipment that the field workers needed. She was surprised to find that the office had been cleaned and the equipment neatly stacked on the open supply shelf. The smell of freshly brewed coffee was coming out of the pantry area. She glanced at her watch. 7 a.m. Who would be in at this hour? They all hated having to open up the office so it could not be any of the regular staffers.

"Whoever you are, I've called the police and they will be here any minute." she said making her way towards the pantry to investigate. If all else failed, she would do what everyone in Midvale had been known to do when caught in a dangerous situation, scream "Help Supergirl!" at the top of her lungs.

"I warn you, I am armed." she lied as she neared the doorway.

Ethan walked out of the pantry with a coffee mug in one hand and a sandwich in the other.

"Vicki, you don't even own tear gas." he laughed as he set his breakfast down on the breakfast counter. "Care for some coffee?"

"What are you doing here so early? Is there a meeting I did not know about?" she heaved a sigh of relief and set her bag down next to his backpack. "Going hiking?"

"None of your business!" he snapped at her.

"Wow! Take it easy. What's wrong with you? You've been acting really wierd lately." she went into the pantry to pour herself a cup of coffee.

Ethan knew exactly what was wrong with him. The problem, was that there was nobody he could tell without being hauled off to the looney bin. The only man he could have spoken to, Clark, was the one who caused the bruise.

"Did you get into a fight?" she was staring at the knuckle prints that were clearly visible on the right side of his jaw. "That looks really nasty."

"I think so. I don't remember... I think I was drunk." he lied.

She took his empty plate and mug along with hers to the sink. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him yawn. Now that she had a chance to really look at him, he looked worn out and, obviously, had not gotten a decent nights rest either.

"Why don't you go stretch out in your office while I tidy up? You look like you need it." she washed the cups as she spoke.

"I think I will." he stretched out his arms before getting up from his seat.

****

Linda stirred in bed as she heard Kali's baby talk noises piercing her consciousness. What time was it? Was Kali really not going to let her get any sleep? It seemed to her that all she did was run after her hyperactive daughter since they got home. How she wished she had some assistance. If only Ethan had not left.

Ethan. The thought of his leaving cut through her very being. How could the miracle of life turn out to be such a dividing event in their lives? This was not how she thought starting a family with him would end up. Had she known that there were even a possiblity of her getting pregnant... Had she known beforehand that the child would be almost totally Kryptonian... If only Ethan had told her how he really felt about having children with her... She would not have chosen to not bear any child if it meant losing him.

"Mama? Wake mama? Kali gry gry." Kali's vocabulary was ever growing. It took only a few hours in front of the TV set watching Sesame Street for her to understand that Mamam was wrong and mama was right. She was obviously a highly intelligent child by earth standards. Kal-El expected her to be speaking in complete sentences by the end of the week at this rate. But there were still some words that escaped her ability to pronounce.

Linda's anger at the situation of her family life was such that she was choosing to keep her eyes closed and hoped that she could ignore Kali enough to make her leave her alone. She was angry, angry at her daughter for making Ethan leave. She did not want anything to do with the child. Kali was the reason she was so unhappy now.

"Mama, peayse. Mama wake wake!" Kali was pushing her now. Their equalized physical strength prevented her from pushing Kara off the bed where she was now sitting beside her mother.

Kal-El's voice seemed to be coming from inside the room. "Kara, wake up. Your daughter needs you."

"Unca Clak!" Kali jumped off the bed towards a surprised Kal-El.

"Unca Clak, wake Mama, Kali gry gry!" she begged him in childish desperation.

"Okay, okay little one. Go to the kitchen. Mama and I will follow." he set her down on the floor and gave her a little pat on the back towards the door.

"No floating Kali!" ever since the Kali learned how to float the day before, she had been trying to float higher and higher, making Kal-El fear that somebody would see her and blow their cover.

"Unca Clak no float Kali. Kali walk, walk." he followed her with his x-ray vision as she disappear down the steps. She sat on every step and lowered herself unto the next one in order to reach the stepboards.

"Good girl Kali."

Linda still lay on the bed motionless. She did not want to talk to anybody. Most specially Kal-El. He signified what was wrong with her life now. That she was not human and would never be.

"Get up Kara. We have to talk." he pulled the covers off her.

"I don't want to talk to anybody Kal-El. I just want to be alone." she pulled the covers back.

"You are not going to wallow in self pity Kara! I will not let you!" He wondered if this was the equivalent of Kyrptonian post partum depression.

"I am not wallowing!"

"Then get out of bed and take care of your daughter!"

She kicked the covers off angrily and sat up in bed. "I don't want to! I lost Ethan because of her! I am lost without him! I don't know what to do. How do you raise a child?"

"Listen to yourself and tell me you are not wallowing." he sat on the corner of the bed.

"Kal-El... I..."

He cut her off. "How can you be so selfish? What happened to you Kara? When did Ethan become your whole world? Don't deny Kali a mother just because Ethan doesn't know how to be a father."

She began to sob uncontrollably. " Help me Kal-El."

He pulled her close and hugged her tightly. "Let it our Kara. Cry as much as you want. But after this, you need to get your act together. Kali can't raise herself. I promise you, you won't have to do this alone."

The doorbell sounded just then. "Mama, door. Kali open?"

"No! No Kali! Mama is coming!" she wiped her tears away and smiled at Kal-El. "We'll be alright."

****

"Linda Lee Logan?" A red headed young woman of no more than 18 asked when the door opened.

"Yes..."

"Aneles Vinzenzo. Prof. Leighton sent me. The babysitter?" she explained as Linda stood there with a questioning look on her face.

"Oh right. Come on in." she led the way into the kitchen where Kali was safely ensconsed in her uncle's arms, the only way they both knew to keep her from displaying any powers in public at this point.

"This is my cousin, Clark Kent."

"Oh yes! I've read your work. You and that Lois Lane make a good writing team." Aneles shook his outstretched hand.

Linda found herself staring intently at Aneles. She reminded her of somebody. Somebody dangerous. A sense of foreboding seemed to overcome her whole being. She tried to shake it off.

"Is something wrong?" Aneles asked when she noticed Linda.

"No... no... it's just that... you remind me of someone." She smiled at Aneles and offered her some orange juice.

"I guess this little girl will be my ward?" Aneles motioned towards Kali who was following her every movement silently.

As she saw more and more of the dual personalities unfolding before her, she began to register fear in her little round blue eyes. Somehow, both Clark and Linda failed to see what was happening before their eyes.

"Yes, this is Kali. Say hello to Aneles Kali." Linda instructed.

Kali was not sure about how to react with this woman. Why were her mother and uncle being so nice to this creature? While everyone else saw a young woman, Kali's innocence showed her what it was that she was trying to hide. The broken body of Bianca.

"Hello Kali." the woman came over to her and tried to touch her.

Kali burst out into tears out of fear. "Mama! Mama! Faid mama! Munstay! Munstay!"

Linda took Kali from Clark to calm her down. "It's alright Kali. Mama is here. No... no... there is no monster. Mama won't let any monster hurt you."

"See what I mean Linda?" Clark whispered to her. "Aneles, let's go to the living room and get the interview started."

****

"Linda! Look at the time, you can't be late again! We've got mid-terms today!" Lucy tried to hurry her friend with whom she had breakfast that day so that they could carpool to school.

"I'm trying to get everything fixed before I go. Why isn't Aneles here yet? I told her about my mid terms." Linda muttered under her breath as she sped around following Kali around the house, picking up and replacing the things she was hurling to the floor in glee.

How could Linda teach her that throwing things was not a game? How she wished Alura were still alive, that way she would have a mother who could guide and instruct her in the ways of motherhood.

Kali seemed to enjoy having her mother constantly chasing after her. Having just learned how to float higher than just a few inches above the floor, then hurl whatever she got her hands on towards the floor. Had Linda not been quick in using her super powers, the house would have been a total wreck by now.

"Can't you control her!" Lucy screamed as the flower vase that was on the 3rd row of the kitchen brickabrack shelf was hurled mere inches above her head. She had ducked away just in time. Linda was a blur in Lucy's eyes as she sped off to catch the vase before it hit the wall.

"Do I look like I am not trying to control her? Kali! That was bad! We do not hurl things at people!" Linda finally caught the child in mid float and hugged her close to make her stop.

"Mama, ouch!" Kali squirmed as Linda forgot her own strength and fell into Kara mode.

"What if she does that out in public? What if she hurls her baby sitter out the window?"

"Don't be so overly dramatic. Kali is just a kid. She doesn't know how to do those things."

"I still think you are taking a risk leaving her with a stranger. Lois and I were willing to take turns watching her." Lucy was seriously concerned for the welfare of Kali. At least around them, the child could be herself without worry.

"Can you get that please?" Linda motioned for the door when the buzzer sounded. Aneles had arrived on time.

Biance was taken by surprise when Lucy opened the door. She was not expecting to see her at this house. She remembered her from the final confrontation at the mountain castle. Seeing Lucy brought back the painful memories of being sucked into the Phantom Zone vortex. The horor of becoming part of the living dead in a place that was neither of earth nor space. She did her best to regain her composure. Hoping that her facial expression did not betray her.

"Mrs. Logan is expecting me. I'm Aneles Vinzenzo. The baby sitter." she introduced herself.

"Lucy Lane. Her best friend. We were just getting ready to leave for school. C'mon in. " she could not help but feel that there was something familiar about this woman. If only she could put her finger on it.

"We're heading out the door. Thanks for being on time Aneles." Linda placed Kali into the playpen in the living room and gave her a kiss.

"Mommy will be back in a few hours. " she assured her when she saw Kali curl her face up, ready to cry again.

"Mama, no go. Kali faid. Munstay!Kali go wi mama! Peayse mama peayse!" her little body shook as she pointed to Aneles.

"Stop it Kali! Be good. YOu will stay here with Aneles. I won't be gone long." she warned her and then turned away.

"Her food is in the fridge and the emergency numbers are on the magnetic board in the kitchen. She'll be okay. She just doesn't know you yet." Linda instructed.

"Don't worry Mrs. Logan."

"It's Linda."

"Okay. Don't worry Linda. Prof. Leighton told me I could call you at her office if it is really necessary." she put her shoulder bag down on the coffee table and settled into familiarizing herself with the list Linda handed her.

"No classes today?" Lucy was suspicious. Aneles was supposed to be a college freshman.

"Oh, I have some personal experience essays to write." Aneles explained, pulling out a few writing sheets from her bag.

"We're gonna be late Lucy." Linda hurried her friend out the door. "See you in 4 hours. " she told Aneles.

****

Lucy could not shake the feeling that she had seen Aneles before. There as something eerily familiar about her. It so preoccupied her thoughts that she almost missed the turnoff to the main road heading for the college while driving.

"Bianca! That's Bianca!" she slammed hard on the brakes.


	9. Kali Goes Missing

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**Kali Goes Missing**

"You're nuts. Bianca could not have survived the explosion of the Phantom Zone. Now floor the gas, we've got 15 minutes before the test starts." Linda told her friend who almost threw both of them out of the windshield with her sudden brake.

"No, no. Just think about it. Doesn't Aneles remind you of somebody? She could be like Bianca's daughter."

"Lucy, we don't have the time..."

"I am telling you, there is something untrustworthy about that woman. She gives me a bad feeling. It is as if she knows me. You have to watch her like a hawk. " Lucy released the brakes and set the car into motion again.

"You are being too paranoid. Bianca is dead." Linda felt a tug at her heart as she remembered the explosion of Argo City.

Here she was 4 years later and she still could not get over the pain of her loss. The existence of Heritage Island was helping her to cope better with the loss of her parents though. At least now she had a place to retreat to when she felt like she needed to be in touch with her roots. Something that, because of the events of the past few days, she felt she would have to do as soon as her exams were over. She would take Kali "home" for a visit with her.

"That is what we thought about Selena too, and she almost succeeded in killing you."

****

Aneles had prepared Kali's morning snack with the hopes of putting her to sleep after so that she could snoop around the house without any distractions. The child was constantly crying and running away from her so that it took all of her strength to not simply zap the child into a statue or something.

"Kali, time to eat." she hollered towards the living room where the child had ensconsed herself in her playpen. She did not dare come near because the cries that emanated from Kali were so loud that it forced her to cover her ears.

"No. I won't eat ! Wait for mama." Kali protested when Bianca showed up with the feeding tray.

She was taken aback by the image of the child before her. Had Kali aged a full year since the time she had arrived at the house? Even her speech pattern had changed. The baby talk seemed to have lessened. This was certainly a strange child.

"Kali, your mama left me in charge of you. So you have to eat when I tell you to eat." Aneles tried to reason with the child whose head was now taller than the playpen she sat in.

"I don't like you." Kali hurled a building block at Aneles who was unable to avoid the projectile. It landed in the bowl of mashed potatoes which splattered across her chest and face.

"Kali, the goddess of destruction. What a fitting name." she muttered under he breath as she set aside the tray on the coffee table.

"Don't be so hard headed Kali. Your mama will be mad at you when she gets home and finds out you have not eaten. " she cleaned herself up with the table napkin that was on the tray.

"No! Monster! Stay away!" Aneles was amazed at how such a small child was able to jump out of the playpen and disappear from her sight so fast.

Where did she go? Could it be? Could this be a super child? She needed to find proof of this child's history. Could Supergirl and Linda Lee Logan really be the same person? Was Selena right all along?

She called after the child as she climbed the stairs. "Where are you Kali? Be a nice little girl and don't give Aneles a hard time."

She heard the small, afraid voice of the little girl coming out of one of the rooms. She found that the door was locked when she tried the knob.

"Open the door for Aneles Kali. It's okay if you don't want to eat. We can just play a game." Aneles tried to coax the child.

In truth she preferred that Kali lock herself out of the way so that she would have the freedom to search the house without having to worry about her getting in the way or discovering what she was doing.

"No! Kali will only come out when mama gets home! You bad! You have 2 faces! Monster! Monster!"

"What do you mean I have 2 faces?" she tried to peek into the keyhole to see what the child was up to. Admittedly, if anything happened to the child under her watch, it would ruin all the plans she and Lucila had carefully drawn up.

"Go away! Mama! Daddy! Help me!" Kali started hitting her head against the wall that she sat up against.

"Stop it Kali! Stop it!" Aneles decided it was time to open the door whether the child wanted it or not.

_" Powers that control the portal to all worlds,_

_Powers that have the ability to unlock the arc of the covenant, _

_Unlock this door before the child within comes to injury." _

With that chant, the door she stood before opened up to reveal the child standing on the ledge of bedroom window.

"Kali don't!" she froze in horror as the child dangled her foot off the ledge where she stood.

She wasn't going to really make that jump was she? As if challenging Aneles, Kali stepped off the ledge and floated in mid - air.

"A Super child!" Aneles was sure of it now. But who was her mother? Linda or Supergirl? And the father? Superman?

Kali glanced towards the driveway as she heard the hum of a car driving up towards the house. She saw her father's car pull up the driveway. She smiled at the thought of her father coming home to protect her. In her mind, she believed that he had heard her calling for him. She had no idea that Ethan was not like her and her mom. This was just a coincidence.

"Daddy!" she cried out in joy as she floated down to the window sill.

"Daddy?" Aneles was getting more confused by the minute. The child's father was not Superman then?her father was an earthling? But the strength and self confidence that the child was displaying...

****

He had just stepped into the hallway when he heard Kali calling out from the top of the stairs. He turned just in time to see her take off from the topmost step of the stairs. He dropped his keys and lunged towards her. Completely forgetting that it would take more than a fall from the stairs to hurt his daughter.

Kali had not learned how to fly yet so that when she jumped off the step, she lost control and spiralled wildly downward towards her father.

"Kali!" he shouted as she landed squarely on his stomach where he had fallen in the hopes of breaking her fall.

"Ooomph!" he felt the wind get taken out him by the pressure of her body leaning on his own.

"Daddy! Home! Daddy come home!" she wrapped her little arms as tightly as she could around his neck and refused to let go.

"Kali, Kali, where is mommy?" he asked her as he tried to untangle her arms from his neck so he could stand up.

"Mommy at school. Home soon."

"Who is with you Kali? Clark? Lois? Jimmy? Lucy?" he called out as he took her hand and led her to the living room. He saw the uneaten food and wondered who had prepared it. Why was there a building block in the bowl?

"Mr. Logan?" Aneles showed herself. She stood at the top of the stairs where she had watched the events unfold. Seeing how Kali flew wildly through the air only convinced her further that Supergirl was somewhere in that house.

"Who are you?" he asked while Kali clung to him in fright at the sight of Aneles.

"I'm the baby sitter. Aneles Vinzenzo.I started today."

"Oh right. Linda told me about you." he lied.

He decided it was not Aneles' business to know that he and Linda had not spoken for days and he was only there to pick up some fresh clothes. He would have to play along and pretend to know what Linda had been up to with regards to Kali all this time.

"I was expecting Linda to be home by now." she explained.

"She should be here soon. I just came by to pick up some things I need at the office. Don't bother telling her about my coming home will you?" he was not yet ready to talk to Linda. He still did not know what he wanted from her or what to expect of this situation. Until he sorted things out for himself, it would be best for them to not see each other.

"Daddy, monster." Kali pointed to Aneles once again. Hoping that he could see what she was seeing. He did not.

"That is not a nice thing to say about Aneles Kali." he bent down to pick her up and was surprised to discover that, even though she had gained height and weight, she was still light enough for him to pick up. He wondered how much longer she would keep her human traits before he lost her forever to a heritage he did not understand.

"No daddy, look! Please daddy!" she was pointing to the mirror now that was behind Aneles at the top of the stairs.

Had Ethan not been so busy humoring his daughter he would have seen the gray cloaked burned woman who hunched over as she stood before them.

Kali rubbed her eyes and yawned. She was so tired from running away from Aneles all morning. She wanted to sleep. But she somehow knew that she would not be safe if she went to sleep.

"C'mon little one." Ethan carried her up to her room.

"Go have a snack. I'll put her to bed." he instructed Aneles as he closed the door on her.

"Daddy, don't go away. Daddy stay with me? Mommy home soon. " Kali was begging her father as he tucked her in.

"Daddy will stay till you fall asleep." he turned on the cassette player on the bookshelf and played a tape of nursery rhymes to help her fall asleep.

He sat by her bed and stroked her arm till she dozed off. She looked so peaceful as she slept. He wanted nothing more than to dote on her. But he was held back by his inhibitions about who she really was. Was there any part of her that he could actually say belonged to him? He closed his eyes and imagined what kind of father he would be if Kali had become a normal human child instead of a half breed. What a perfect family they could have been.

He kissed the top of her head before heading out towards the master's bedroom. He took a long shower and packed another overnight bag full of clothes and other things he would be needing while he lived out of his office. His eyes fell upon the silver photo frame that held their wedding picture. He could not help but smile as he remembered the day that Linda became all his. The day that she chose to live as a human being. He took the frame and tossed it into his bag.

****

Linda sat staring at her exam paper. She had finished the test in 10 minutes but had to wait for Lucy to finish before she could turn hers in. Linda was worried about all the cries that she had been hearing coming from Kali. She simply refused to allow Aneles to get near her. Maybe it was too soon for her to be returning to school. Maybe she should have stayed home a full month. Or at least until Kali became comfortable around strangers. Things would have been easier if Ethan had been around to do his part. She tuned her hearing towards the range of Kali's voice while waiting. She could hear her breathing evenly.

"Aneles got her to take a morning must be very tired." she thought with a smile.

Lucy got up and signalled Linda to turn her paper in. They joined the other Creative Writing students in turning in their work to the teaching aide. Prof. Leighton did not come to adminster the exam to them. She had called in sick and allowed her teaching aid to supervise the procedure instead.

"How's Kali doing?" Lucy asked worriedly as they made their way to the parking lot.

"She seems to be sleeping right now." Linda replied as she strapped herself into the seat.

"We best get home then. I sure hope she did not freak out Aneles." Lucy still did not believe Aneles was on the level but if Linda trusted the woman, she would have to go along with it and hope Linda was right.

****

Kali's super hearing alerted her to her father stepping out of the front door. Not wanting to be left alone with the being that she feared so much, the little girl got out of bed, locked the door to her room and opened the window. She stepped out and floated onto the top of Ethan's car just as he passed her window. Nobody noticed that she lay on the roof of the car as it passed the busy intersections of Midvale. The yellow sun continuing to increase her powers and rapidly age her. Making her taller by nches in a matter of seconds before stopping. Now, Kali looked like a 3 year old child. She had fallen asleep again by the time Ethan pulled into his office lot.

****

Aneles heard Ethan leave the house. Confident that the child would not be wandering out of her room at least until her mother got home, she began searching the rooms of the house for evidence of Supergirl's existence. She could not find anything to link the two women and the child within the rooms she had searched so far. She felt anger rising up inside of her. The identity of Supergirl needed to be uncovered. She owed it to Lucila to bring her mother's killer to justice. But where would she find the evidence she needed? Taking a chance, she entered the master's bedroom.

Everything in the room looked like normal everyday items. Nothing out of the ordinary. She went through the drawers, careful to replace everything just as she found it so as not to arouse suspicion. Even the clothes cabinet was unremarkable. It was only by accident that she happened to grab onto the clothes rack when she lost her balance. Her weight pulled open the secret room behind the wall.

The fake wall held the answer to the secret that she had been looking for all along. Beyond the wall was another room that was only slightly smaller than the master's bedroom in size. Within the walls lay all the items that could directly link Supergirl to Linda Lee Logan.

Everything was here. From the numerous sets of Supergirl uniforms to the old Midvale School for Girls uniform of Linda. The various pictures of Linda Lee as a student at Midvale School and then in various states of undress as she changed into the Supergirl costume. Photos that were taken during playful moments with Ethan when he was trying to make her stay home instead of going off to save the day with Kal-El or on her own. Pictures that, if the world ever saw, would remove the anonymity of Kara forever. These were more than enough to prove that Selena was right. Linda and Supergirl were indeed one and the same person.

Taking a foldable film camera out of her back pocket, she took as many pictures of the room as she could. Lucila would be very interested to learn of her mother's vindication. Now, they could plot how to destroy Supergirl and her child once and for all.

****

"Kali baby, mommy's home." Linda said loudly as she and Lucy walked into the house. When she did not hear Kali's voice respond, she started up to the nursery to check on the child.

"Aneles? Where are you?" she looked at Lucy with a worried look on her face.

"I'll check the kitchen." Lucy could only hope to find Aneles with Kali there.

Having heard the women arrive, Bianca had used magic to transport herself from the secret room to the kitchen where she was now feigning sleep as she slumped over the breakfast nook.

"Aneles, Aneles? Wake up." Lucy nudged her lightly.

"Hummm...? Oh Lucy. I must have dozed off."

"Where's Kali?"

"In her room. Mr. Logan was here earlier and he told me he would put her to bed for me. She clung to him the minute he walked into the door."

"Lucy!" Linda's voice was in sheer panic coming from the nursery.

She broke into a sprint up the stairs.

"Please god don't let it be!" she prayed.

"Kali's gone!" Linda exclaimed as Lucy appeared at the door.

****

Vicki walked into Ethan's office just as he was unpacking his overnight bag. She had the laundry that he had asked her to do for him.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" she placed the laundry bag on the couch and opened it up. She took his folded shirts out and lay it in one of the filing cabinet drawers that she had emptied out for him.

"Maybe some lunch? I haven't had time to grab a snack all morning. I was at the house." he took out the wedding picture and placed it on his desk.

She felt a tinge of jealousy upon seeing the picture. But she was confident in the knowledge that his marriage was in trouble . Ethan never said a word but all the signs were there for her to see. She would have to be a fool to not take advantage of it.

"Any particular requests?"

"Just something to tide me over. Maybe a BLT?"

"Coming right up."

****

"Don't panic Linda. I'll get Clark to come over." Lucy tried to calm down her panic stricken friend.

"No, no. Don't tell Clark. This is something I have to deal with on my own."

Aneles came into the room to find out what had happened. She had been so busy in the secret room that watching Kali completely slipped her mind.

"Where were you? How could you let this happen?" Linda tried to control her anger from surfacing. She had entrusted her daughter to this woman.

"Mr. Logan told me to go have a snack and relax..." she began to explain.

"Mr. Logan? Ethan was here?" The thought that Ethan chose to come to the house when Linda would not be around added to the hurt and worry that she was already feeling.

"He told me not to tell you but under the circumstances..."

"Go home Aneles. I'll call for you if I need your services." Linda signaled Lucy to see her out of the house.

It was only then that she noticed the open window in the room. Using her x-ray vision, she saw the imprints of Kali's shoes on the ledge. She could almost guess what had happened and where her daughter was.

"Lucy, stay here till I get back." Linda got up on the window sill as well.

"Where are you going?"

"I know where Kali is." she jumped off and flew upward in the direction of Ethan's office.

****

Ethan flexed his shoulders as he ate his lunch. Vicki had drawn the blinds in the office so that he could wear more comfortable clothes while he ate.

"How about a massage?" she offered.

"I'd love one. Linda has been too busy lately to give me one." he appreciated her gesture.

She came over to him and began massaging him through his shirt. He smelled of Spring Fresh soap. His scent filled her senses so that she could not properly massage his shoulders with his shirt on.

"I can't reach the knots in your shoulder blades." she told Ethan who was now lying on his chest on the couch.

Without even thinking, Ethan whipped his shirt off and threw it towards his desk. His rippling muscles were now exposed for Vicki to see and enjoy touching. She felt herself feeling hotter than ever as she continued to massage his shoulders and back. He was enjoying the massage too much to ask her to stop. It had been months since Linda had any real time to take care of his physical needs. Their anniversary night was more of an exception that a norm.

"Ethan?" she called out his name softly.

He rolled over and reached up to Vicki's face for a soft and tender kiss. She returned his kiss with an unexpected passion. He was unsure as to whether to push her away or just enjoy the moment. It did not take long for him to simply go with his emotions of the moment.

Just as things were beginning to get serious between them, Linda burst into the office.

"No Ethan! Stop it!" she screamed in anger and pain. How could he do this to her? How easily he cheated on her. He thought nothing of making love to another woman just to spite her.

He pushed Vicki off of him and grabbed his shirt. "Linda! It's not what you think!"

Vicki straightened her clothes out as she left the room. She smiled as she thought about how close she had been to getting what she wanted from Ethan. There would be another chance. She would make sure of it.

"What the hell Vicki?" Joel asked her when he saw her coming out of the room. "He's a married man."

"An unhappily married man Joel. Unhappily married."

****

"Linda I..."

"Don't. Don't talk Ethan. Don't say anything at this point. Please. I beg you. Don't hurt me any more than you already have." she tried to control her emotions as she spoke.

"You're the only one Linda."

"Then what were you doing with your secretary!" The power of her fists slamming into his table broke it in half. "Look at what you made me do!"

"Linda..."

She held her hand up to stop him from speaking. Turning away from him, she saw his employees haggling for a position between the slots of the venetian blinds. She drew up the blinds mostly to help her control her temper than anything else.

"It was just a massage Linda."

"Since when did a massage include lip service from a woman who isn't your wife Ethan?"

"Linda.. it's been so long since you took care of me."

"What do you mean? What more do I have to do for you? I can't understand you anymore Ethan!"

He approached her with the intention of hugging her to calm her down.

"Don't touch me. Don't make me hurl you at the wall in front of your employees." she warned him.

"That! That is what I want to see! Get mad Linda! Let me see how human you are!Get mad at me! At least if you are mad at me I can feel that you still love me! That I am still a part of your life! No pretenses!"

"I never pretended to be anything with you Ethan! I am human!I I love you! You are the only one I ever loved! I risked my life to have your child!"

"No you're not! You've changed Linda! You are no longer the woman I married! All I ever wanted was you! You were enough for me. I did not need anything else. But you never gave yourself fully over to me! I will always own only half of you, just like I my child will forever be only a half human!" he cried out.

"You've changed Ethan! When did you start hating who I really am? Kali is not a half breed either. She is our daughter. She is a part of me and a part of you. Regardless of her abilities. We have a very special child Ethan. Love her, love me, love us!"

He was struck by her words. He did not hate who she really was. He loved her no matter who she was. She was his Karalinda. The love of his life. His soul-mate. The other half of his being. Kali was his own flesh and blood as well. But why couldn't he accept her as half Kyrptonian? What was wrong with him? What was happening to them?

"We need to work this out Linda. I don't want to lose you. I don't want to break up this family." his voice cracked as he spoke.

"I don't want to lose you either Ethan. But we don't have the time to sort this out now. Kali is missing."

"What?"

"Aneles said that you tucked her in for a nap this morning."

"I did. Before I left. She did not want to let me go. She kept saying something about Aneles being a monster. I had to calm her down first." he explained.

"Well she disappeared soon after. I was hoping she was with you."

"No. I would have known if she had snuck into the car."

"Not unless she floated or flew after you." she reminded him.

"Oh right. My daughter isn't an ordinary child." Linda thought she detected sarcasm in his voice but chose to ignore it.

****

Kali awoke upon picking up on her parents voices coming from the building in front of the car. Slowly climbing down, she made her way into the office building.

"Mommy, daddy?" she asked every person whom she passed in the room.

Everyone was too busy to notice her. Everyone except Joel who was running copies of a landscaping job specs on the copying machine when she wandered into the copy room.

"Well hello there. Whose kid are you?" he asked her.

****

A knock on the door interrupted their discussion. Joel poked his head through the door.

"Sorry to disturb you guys but there is a kid wandering the office halls...." he began.

"Mommy? Daddy?"

"Kali!" her parents jumped at the sound of her voice.

They rushed towards her in relief. Linda picked up her daughter and hugged her tightly.

"Don't scare mommy that way ever again Kali."

"Mommy, monster. Daddy went away. Left me with the monster. I followed daddy." she smiled triumphantly at her mother.

Kali was proud of her accomplishment without realizing the dangers she had exposed herself to because of it. The recklessness of a child. Linda would need to have a serious talk with her when they got home.

Linda looked at Ethan with sadness in her eyes. Was it really too late for them? Could he really hate his flesh and blood so much that he could not spend a few hours with her when she was afraid?

"Mommy and daddy?" Joel sounded confused.

"She's our daughter Joel." Ethan explained. "That is all you need to know." He closed the door in Joel's face.

"Daddy's here Kali. I am here for you." He took her from her mother and hugged her tightly.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Ethan." Linda warned him.


	10. Plans Set In Motion

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**Plans Set In Motion**

Lucila sat at the dining table with the pictures that Bianca had taken of the secret room spread out before her. This was all the proof that she needed to be sure that her mother was right. Linda Lee Logan and Kara, daughter of Alura and Zor-El were one and the same woman... the woman who killed her mother.

"Tell me Bianca, what would mother have done in this situation? What spirits would she have called upon to destroy Kara?" she picked up one of the pictures and crumpled it into a lump.

"I can tell you what won't work. Kara is a powerful alien. She can withstand even the strongest Shadow Monster. There is no magick that has been created which can weaken her or drive her to madness. From what I learned from the evil entities in the Phantom Zone, there is but one way to beat the members of the House Of El." Bianca was already walking towards the area of the room where there was a lose floor board. She took out a heavy steel container box from it.

Lucila stood up and helped her hoist the heavy box into the table.

"This is the Coffer of Shadow. It is the only container on this planet that could contain the Omegahedron. The most powerful magickal ball to ever exist. Your mother was its master for a while. Until Kara came and ruined everything."

"What's inside it now?"

Bianca took a cloverleaf shaped key from underneath the box and unlocked it. The strong green glow of Kyrptonite blinded them almost immediately.

"This is the the one element in all the galaxies that can kill both Kara and her daughter. All it takes is just one small stone for each of them to end their lives." she placed the glowing stones in Lucila's hands.

****

Ethan watched from his office window as Linda and Kali left the premises. He knew that Linda had flown to his office and wanted to see how she planned to get home with the little girl who was bursting with excess energy as she hopped and skipped alongside her mother.

They looked so normal from afar. A young mother and her child making their way through the city. Nobody would have guessed that these two beings were special. One was destined to protect Midvale and the other, born to continue the legacy of her mother and uncle when the proper time came. Was he really willing to ask Linda to sacrifice her duty for his sake? Was he being selfish because he entertained the thoughts of wanting to have a normal family life with her and their daughter? From the stories Kal-El had told in the past, it would be very possible for him to have what he wanted. All it would take was a visit to a special chamber in the Fortress of Solitude.

"Ethan? Have you got a minute?" Joel's entry disturbed his thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah. What do you need?" he turned from the window and signaled for Joel to sit down in the guest chair.

"If you don't mind, this isn't about work." he began.

"Then what is it?" Ethan took his own seat and set aside some papers in front of him so he could place his arms on the table.

"It's about Vicki."

"What about her?"

"I like her Ethan. But I won't have a chance unless you stop leading her on."

"What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about your wife walking in on you and Vicki. What the hell Ethan? Isn't Linda enough for you? Isn't she a good wife? Why are you putting your family on the line this way? And with that daughter of yours, we never even knew Linda was pregnant. Don't ruin it Ethan. Not over Vicki. She isn't worth it for you."

Ethan sat there listening to his friend as he held the mirror up for him to see his faults. But it wasn't all his fault. Linda had lost time for him, she produced a child whom he could not relate to, this was all her fault.

"Joel, you don't understand my marriage. It isn't a normal marriage. Not by human standards. Linda is... she's special. She does some things which I can't understand. Our daughter is something else entirely. And don't even get me started on the pregnancy." his thoughts drifted back to that night Kara went into labor, when he had almost lost her.

"And Vicki? What is she to you? A hole you can plug into?" Joel's tone was becoming argumentative.

"She was a moment of weakness. I don't love her in the way you are thinking Joel, I swear upon my daughter's life. I love my wife."

"Then go home to her man. Stop with the floor leader act. Work it out."

"How do you work out the fact that my wife is an alien and my daughter is a half breed?" he thought silently.

"You're a very lucky guy Ethan. Linda is a treasure. Everybody likes her and that isn't because she is the boss' wife either. She is endearing.A friend to everyone. Never has a chip on her shoulder... very likeable person. You are a fool to even consider fooling around with a wife like that. " Joel added.

"Listen man, let me figure out my marital problems my way. In the meantime, go and chase after Vicki. I don't want her. I don't love her." he assured his friend as he got up from his chair. He walked over to the framed wedding picture that sat on the coffee table in the middle of the office.

"I'll hold you to that Ethan." Joel got up himself and headed for the door.

He picked up the picture and stared at their ecstatic faces. They were so happy that day. Everything was perfect. Things could be perfect for them again. Linda never asked anything of him. But he always asked of her and she always gave what she could without question or pause. Would she be willing to make the supreme sacrifice if he asked her? Did she love him that much? As far as Ethan was concerned, it was the only thing that could save their family. It was worth a shot.

"I've got a family to save." he said.

****

"Mommy, let's float." Kali asked her mother as they walked the streets that would lead them home. She had been controlling the urge to float since they left the office and it was building up inside of her. Without knowing it, she started to elevate from the ground.

"Kali! No!" Linda tugged on her daughter to make her touch the ground again. Luckily, nobody had seen Kali's display. It was late afternoon and most of Midvale was asleep.

"Why not mommy?" she looked at her mother with hurt in her eyes. Why was it that even her Uncle Clark would not let her float?

"Not everybody can float Kali. So it would be best to not let other people know that you can do it." she explained as she picked up the pace of their walk.

"But why can't everybody float?" Kali was beginning to make Linda feel uncomfortable with her questions.

"Just because Kali."

"Because what mommy?"

"Kali, you are too young to understand."

"Tell me mommy!" Kali stomped her feet with such force that the ground they stood on shook with the intensity of a mild earthquake.

"Stop it! We will discuss this at home."

"No mommy! Talk now!" Linda wondered if Kali had inherited her temper from her father.

"Calm down Kali. Nobody is arguing with you."

"Mommy!" Kali jumped into the air and awkwardly began to fly. "Mommy! Help! What's happening?"

"Kali!" With quick glance around, Kara confirmed that nobody was in that part of the city at this dead hour. The sun was beating down on them and anybody out at the height of this Midvale summer day was asking for a severe case of heatstroke.

With a light jump, she flew after her daughter in the guise of Supergirl. Grabbing onto her daughter's flailing hands and arms, she tried to calm down the panicking child. Kali was clambering into her arms. Afraid of what had just happened to her. Not really understanding anything she was experiencing.

Kali felt much different now than a few moments ago. She felt stronger, older, more mature.

"Don't let me go! What 's happening to me? I'm scared mommy!" she begged as she held on tightly to Kara's neck.

Fear struck her even more when she realized that the woman she was holding on to sounded like her mother but looked different from Linda.

"Mommy, what happened to your hair? Your clothes?" Kali was suprised by the way her speech pattern changed. Her light lisp was gone.

"Calm down Kali. I will explain everything to you. After your flying lesson." Kara had just come to the realization that her daughter had rapidly aged yet again.

"I can fly? Can daddy fly too?"

Kara wished that the time for the explanation would never come. But now that she had to do it, she wondered if this meant that there was no longer a chance for her and Ethan to rebuild what they once had.

****

"Kal-El, once again you are going to meddle with the way of the humans. Why do you never listen to me? You must not interfere." the calm voice of Jor-El was transmitting across the fortress.

"I will interfere where the happiness of Kara is concerned. I will not allow her to end up divorced. She does not deserve any more sadness in her life father." Kal-El continued to work on something that looked like a car engine on his work slab.

"This is dangerous my son. You do not know about the future events that you might change for the worse."

"I will be here with Kara to make it right. I am the only one who can help her father. We are the only ones who can understand each other. I was lucky that Lois is more open minded that Ethan." he put down what looked like an oil filter wrench next to the motor before picking up a socket wrench.

"But this technology..."

"Will save my cousin's marriage. Please father. Kara and I know how to best deal with our lives on this planet. We will not do anything to jeopardize our home and the people we love. "

"I hope so Kal-El. For both your sakes. You have to realize Kal-El, Kryptonian technology in the hands of any human is a highly dangerous thing. These people have an evil streak within them that they cannot seem nor want to control."

****

"Vicki, come into my office please." Ethan's voice came over the intercom on her desk. She was expecting him to call her back in to finish the business they had started earlier. Her grin made her officemates stare at her in disgust. They all knew she was targeting Ethan.

She sat seductively on his desk thinking that he wanted to be seduced. If it was sex that would win him over, then that is what she was going to give him.

"Get off my desk." He told her. He stood up and went to the other end of the room. He sat on the sofa facing Linda's high school graduation picture on the corner table.

Sitting next to him, she tried to pull him towards her so they could take care of their unfinished business.

"Will you stop it! I am a married man!"

"That is not what you were saying before your wife interrupted us." she tried to sound seductive.

"I love my wife. I do not love you." he gave the bad news to her straight.

"You are just saying that." she whispered into his ear.

He took her arms off from around his neck and pushed her away.

"Clear out your desk and pick up your salary. I can't have you working here anymore." he headed for the door and opened it. His message was clear.

"Joel." Ethan called out while making sure that she would not get near him again.

He had a wondering look on his face when he entered the manager's office.

"Make sure she clears out her desk by the end of the day. She is all yours." with that Ethan turned Vicki over to Joel. If he was really in love with her, now was his chance.

****

"Get me the bat's wing skin and bitterroot." Bianca instructed Lucila as she stood hunched over the makeshift stove that held the boiling cauldron.

"Anything else?" Lucila asked as she dropped the ingredients into the pot.

"Pulverize the kryptonite. We are doing this tomorrow. Just make sure to keep Linda and Lucy apart. I need to get Lucy alone for a few hours or nothing we discussed will work." she reminded her.


	11. What Ethan Wants

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**What Ethan Wants...**

He picked up the office phone and dialed the familiar Metropolis number. The phone rang a few times before a familiar female voice on the other end picked up the call.

"Daily PLanet. Lois Lane speaking." she answered absentmindedly as she tried to concentrate on the phone call and Jimmy asking her to choose a photo to headline her news story with.

"Lois, Ethan here. Can I come over? I need your advise." he picked up the picture frame on his table that held a studio shot of Linda dressed in her debut gown.

"Sure. What's up?

"There is something I need to discuss with you. It's about Linda." he was careful to use Kara's Earth name in case somebody was listening in on their conversation.

"Shouldn't you be talking to Clark then?"

"This is one problem I need your opinion on. Clark, he wouldn't understand."

What kind of problem relating to Linda would Clark not understand? Lois hoped that their marital problems were not coming to a head.

"Meet me at Popeye's around 4?" she suggested while she signed some forms.

****

Kali was slowly gaining confidence with her flying abilities as her mother gave her more and more distance with which to hold onto to her. She was now a full 2 arms length from Kara. With her daughter's left hand tightly clasping her own right hand, Kara remembered her own experience flying for the first time.

She was an innocent when she first landed on Earth. She did not realize that earthlings were very different from her at first. She clumsily flew out of Midvale Lake and landed in a heap on the shore nearby. It took a while for her to learn to control her flying abilities because Kal-El was not on the planet at the time. She had to learn it all on her own. Crashing into trees headlong and miscalculating her distance from the water so that she almost drowned taught her that flying looked easier than it actually seemed.

Her first encounter with the male of the species was not exactly a thought she liked to go back to. She had been forced to hurt them in order to defend herself. These were stories and thoughts that she knew she had to shieild Kali from if she were to learn how to take her duty as the protector of the planet seriously when the time came.

Ethan and Lucy were the 2 most important people who helped her settle in on the planet. Lucy was the first person to actually welcome her on Earth. Funny as it sounds now, Lucy sort of mothered her for a very long time. She was her mentor and best friend. She taught Kara everything she knew about life, and relationships.

"Kali, listen to me honey." Kara spoke softly. "I am going to let your hand go. If you feel yourself losing your center, I want you to thrust your arms in front of you. Make a fist to give you something to concentrate on. Keep your arms centered. Do you understand me?"

There was uncertainty in the child's eyes but she trusted her mother to not allow her to get hurt. "Yes mommy."

She flailed her arms in front of her the minute she was released from the grasp. Kali could feel herself begin to fall. "Mommy!"

"Hold your arms out in front of you! Center yourself Kali!" Kara ordered as she followed her daughter's path downward, refusing to grab her daughter into her protective arms.

"I can't do it mommy!"

"Karalinda, listen to mommy. You can do this. Just concentrate. Listen to mommy's voice. Don't be afraid. You were born to fly." her mother instincts took over as she tried to soothe Kali's fears away.

Without really understanding how she did it, Kali's flying began to straighten out. Her tattered clothes which ripped apart during her growth spurt whistled as the air passed between the holes.

"Mommy, I'm flying!"

"Yes you are sweetie."

"This is so cool! I can't wait to show daddy!"

Kara felt a lump build up in her throat at the mention of Ethan's name. Would he ever get to see Kali fly? Did he hate Kali? Would he ask her for a divorce?

"Mommy, where are we going?" Kali disturbed her mother's thoughts.

"Oh right. Well, where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere you can tell me the story of why we can fly."

Kara immediately knew where to take her. "Follow me Kali."

They veered towards the direction of Heritage Island.

****

Lois sat intently listenting to what Ethan had to say. She tried not to register her actual feelings on her face as he explained to her what exactly his plans were to save his marriage. She thought about how lucky he was that it was she who was sitting across from him at the table and not Clark. If he ever heard what is cousin in law was saying...

"Wait, are you saying that you want Linda to give up who she really is? You want her to surrender that which makes her special and loved by the world just because you want to have a normal family? Ethan, that is the most selfish thing I have ever heard you say." she took a sip from the soda cup before continuing. "You know very well that there is no way that can happen."

"Why not? Clark did it for you at one time. He loved you enough to give up his powers. If Linda really loved me, she would do the same thing." he explained as he took a bite out of his fried chicken leg.

"The repercussions were severe. Crime ran rampant, those evil Kyrptonians took over the White House... It was armageddon Ethan. We both know that I would not be sitting here talking to you today if Clark had continued down the path to humanizing his total being. We need Kal-El and Kara just as they are. You have to understand that. There is something bigger at stake here." She tried to reason with him.

How could she get him to understand that just as she had to learn to share Clark with the world, so would he have to learn to share Linda, and maybe later on, even Kali, with the world? These three beings were not meant for an ordinary human life and they seemed to embrace that duty willingly. Or at least she hoped Kali would embrace the responsibility just like her uncle and mother did.

"See, that is where you are wrong." he defended himself. "You very well know that they can get the powers back anytime they really need to."

"It's a one shot deal Ethan. Clark did it only once and he can never do it again. The chamber will allow them to perform each transformation only once. It is not like a costume that they can put on and take off whenever they want."

"Then she will just have to choose."

She could not believe what she was hearing. How could Ethan have become so self centered and unreasonable?

"Do you even hear yourself? Do you have any idea of what you are about to ask of your wife? Ethan, have you ever stopped to consider her feelings? You are going to ask her to cut off her past completely and pretend Kara never existed !"

"What's wrong with that? We have a family now. She does not need to go flying off at the drop of a hat to save some person she does not even know. I am fed up with worrying about her and always having to take the back seat in her life!"

Exasperated, Lois found herself shaking in disgust. "Can I have a coffee please?" she asked the passing waitress.

She needed to look away from Ethan for a bit to regroup her thoughts and word what she was about to say very carefully.

"Ethan, when Kal-El and I spent that week at the fortress, I took the time to study, understand, and try to relate to his culture as a Kryptonian. I made the effort to understand where he came from, what and who he was, and who he had to become. Which is why I understand why he can never become totally human. Have you ever tried to do that for Kara?"

He turned his face away from her. "I never felt a need to."

"Then you are the reason the marriage is failing. Who Linda really is has nothing to do with it. You can't ask her to do this Ethan. I know you are better than that. Don't be the selfish jealous husband. Be the man Linda needs you to be right now. She is under enough pressure as it is."

****

"Mother? Father, I am here with my daughter." Kara awoke the sleeping computer system with her voice.

"Kara, my child. Where is the little one?" Alura's holographic image appeared before them on the wall screen.

"Mommy, what is this place? Is she a monster like Aneles?" Kali clung to her mother, afraid of what she was seeing.

"We are on Heritage Island. The place where we can use all our special abilities without having to worry about being seen. Kali, I told you, Aneles is not a monster and no, that woman is not a monster. She is Alura, your grandmother."

"And I am Zor-El, your grandfather." the holographic image spoke as it too came online.

"Why are you both here my child? he asked.

"Kali has some questions and I do not know how to answer her. I am not prepared to explain such a complicated matter to her. I was hoping that you could help me make sense of everything for her."

"We understand. She has developed just as our calculations had predicted. She needs to know about where she came from. It is of vital importance that she be prepared to continue the legacy. Kara, go get the yellow crystal from the shelf behind you. " Zor-El instructed as a transparent shelf holding crystals of various sizes and colors came out of the wall very slowly.

"Mommy!"

"Don't worry Kali. This is the safest place where the two of us can ever be." Kara returned with the crystal and held it up to the images.

"Insert it in the slot. " He referred to the round tube that seemed to have come from under the floor.

"Kali, it is time for you to understand what makes you a special being in the world of mortals." Alura explained as the lights in the room dimmed and images of Argo City in its prime began to appear on the wall.

****

The trophy for the Creative Story Writing winner sat on the shelf where Bianca and Lucila were working on a potion meant to keep Supergirl oblivious to the presence of Kryptonite on the award. Lucila had already been informed that Linda had won the top prize. The award was going to be presented to her as a suprise at the next day's student assembly.

"Get the trophy Lucila. The Kryptonite is ready." Bianca instructed as she carefully filled the Coffer of Shadow with the lethal powder.

"Are you sure Supergirl will not know that the trophy has Kyrptonite? Her x-ray vision can pierce through anything." Lucila wanted to be reassured that she would indeed be able to inflict lethal harm upon Linda Logan during the awarding ceremony the next day.

"She can see through everything except Lead. That is one of their weaknesses. The banished elders of Argo City told us that magick mixed with a dash of Krptonite would be instant death for their like. "

"I don't know... I hope we have enough Kryptonite powder..."

"Lucila, I have been with those who wished nothing more than the destruction of the House of El. They spared no secrets when Selena and I asked them for information. Their only request was that we set them free from the Phantom Zone after we had killed the clan members. Alas, Argo City was destroyed before I could continue the legacy of your mother. We will avenge her and all those who wished to see the likes of Kara -El dead." Bianca declared self-assuredly.

She took the coffer in her hands and immediately felt the evil power coursing through its structure. It seemed to dislike the Kryptonite within, shaking crazily and almost breaking free of the grasp of Bianca.

"Don't just stand there! Help me!" she ordered Lucila as the coffer pulled her in all directions.

After much of a struggle, the two women finally regained control and aimed it's nozzle at the trophy.

"Join me in the chant." Bianca instructed. Together they chanted:

_"Coffer of Shadow, coat this trophy with your venomous powder. _

_Make the powder invisible to the sight of those whose powers are not of the magickal realm. _

_Transfer your life sucking sediment onto the body of the woman we seek to destroy. _

_Render her incapable of resisting her imminent death,_

_For there is no greater power on this Earth, _

_Than that which the coffer possesses. "_

A strong, blinding light emanated from the tip of the coffer. Silver and green specks mixed with the air that seemed to be encircling the trophy. Within minutes, the Kryptonite was absorbed and coating the inner body of the steel trophy.

"We shall be victorious Lucila." Bianca could not help but smile as she studied their handiwork. There as not even the minutest speck of Kryptonite on the exterior of the item.

****

Linda and Kali lay on the bed that she used to share with Ethan. They had gotten back quite late from the island and Kali had grown tired while flying. She slept in her mothers arms during the return flight.

She heard the familiar hum of Ethan's car coming up th driveway. Dreading what he might have to say to her, she still somehow found the inner strength to get out of bed and meet him. She hoped that he would be in the mood to discuss their situation.

He was sitting on the living room couch when she came down. She could hear his unsteady breathing. His heart was racing and she sensed that his body temperature was nearing fever levels. What was wrong with him?

"I knew you would come down to me." his voice was serious as she stepped into the dark room. He reached over to the nearby side table and turned on the lamp. "I need to talk to you."

"I'm listening." she told him as she took the seat directly across from him. She wanted to sit beside him like she normally did but she was not sure if he wanted her anywhere near him at the moment.

"First, promise me that you will hear me out and you will consider what I am about to ask you to do." he wiped his hands on his pants. He was very nervous. Unsure as to how Kara would take to his request.

"Do you want a divorce?" she asked him point blank. Her voice trying to sound unfeeling but the slight crack in her tone gave her away.

"No."

She heaved a sigh of relief. Whatever it was he was about to ask her to do was going to be easy to hear out and possibly agree to.

"Linda...." he began. "No. I am not making this request of Linda." he stopped himself. " Kara, listen to me. I love you. I love you and I love our daughter. But I can't live this way. I need normalcy. I need you to be my best friend, my wife, my lover, the mother of my child. I need my child to be normal. I need a normal family. "

The implication of his words struck her thoughts even before he could voice it out. "No! Don't ask that of me! Not the transformation chamber!" she exclaimed.

"I would not ask if it was not important to me."

"You are asking me to give up who I am. What my heritage is. The duty I was born to do. You are asking me to take my daughter's birthright away from her? You are asking me to forget my heritage! How can you be so selfish? The world needs me!"

"The world has Kal-El!"

"The world is a much better place with Kal-El and I protecting it!"

"And you would just as soon lay our daughter's life on the line as well? This does not have to be her future. Don't dictate who and what our daughter should be." he reasoned.

"This is her heritage Ethan. The legacy of our people is to protect the innocents of this planet. It is our duty." she tried to explain.

"What about your duty to me? Kara, I no longer know where I fit in your life. If I fit in it at all. I don't even have a place in my daughter's life!"

"You made it that way Ethan! You chose to remove yourself from our lives! Don't blame this on my heritage! You knew who I was when you married me. I never hid anything from you. You knew what our life was going to be like! You promised me that it would not bother you! Why the sudden change?"

"Because we are a family now! Because I want to know that I don't have to keep worrying that my child or my wife will be killed one day because one of you ran into Kryptonite and did not realize it! Because I can't understand who either of you are anymore! Because I don't know if I can still keep you happy even though I am an ordinary human being!" his voice cracked as he defended his stand.

"Ethan... you once told me that a poor gardener could make a rich boarding school girl happy. You know all about my past. My happiness always came from knowing you accepted who I was unconditionally. You have always made me happy. I was at my happiest when we became a family. You chose to destroy that happiness. You chose to destroy what we had as a family."

"Will you do it for me?" he wanted to know.

"I don't know if I can. You are asking too much of me Ethan."

" I have never asked anything of you Kara."

"And when you did ask of me, you chose to ask me to become something I am not. I love you but I do not know if I can do it even for you Ethan. This is all that my parents left me with. This is all that reminds of my treasured past."

"Kara, I..."

"Go away Ethan." the tears began to stream down her face. "I don't want to see you for a while. You can visit Kali if you want to but you have to tell Lucy first so that I can leave. Do you understand what I am trying to say?"

"You won't do it? Not even to save our family? Don't you love me anymore?"

"I don't know if I can love a man who is asking me to forget everything about my past and pretend that the past 21 years of my life never happened." She stood up and opened the door for him. "Give me time to think and decide."


	12. Meet Ethan Logan

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**Meet Ethan Logan**

As the front door closed, Kali, who had been sitting at the top of the stairs, listening to her parents conversation, ran back to the room and took her place on the bed. Her eyes shut as tightly as she could while she tried to process everything she had just heard. How could her father have turned out to be such a mean man? Why was he asking her to stop protecting the people that her grandparents told her they, the members of the House Of El, were born to protect? What was wrong with what they were destined to do? Her mother had been doing it for a long time now, why was it now a problem for her parents? Would he force her to give her powers up too? Well, that simply would not do. She just would not allow him to do such a thing to her, and she knew her mother would not do it either.

****

The door to her sanctuary slid open as she flicked a hidden lightswitch on the backwall of her clothes closet. Kara needed time to be alone with her thoughts. The bedroom was not the best place for her to do that right now with Kali sleeping soundly on the bed. This was the place she often ran to when she felt the pressures of her double life beginning to bear down upon her. If anybody had told her long before she met Ethan that she would be leading the life of a hero and an ordinary human being at the same time, she would have told that person what a crazy idea that was. Now that she was living it though, she wondered if she had made the right decision in getting married so early. It was really just something she did because it felt right at the time. After everything Ethan had been through to save her, marrying him seemed to be the right kind of payback. She did love him with all her heart and being, but now it seemed like they had both rushed into the decision. Lust and libido ruled over logic perhaps?

Who knew that being married would have become such a herculean task for her? Was it this difficult for all married people? Or just those married to aliens from destroyed planets? Was Kal-El having the same problems now that he too was married to Lois? Having the child was totally out of the equation. Who would have been able to predict that Ethan would ask her for more than she was willing to surrender either?

How much was she willing to give up for him? Did she really have it within her to turn her back on her heritage? Where was Kal-El when she needed him? Why was he doing this to her? Was he right? Did she really willingly endanger herself? Would she be willing to see Kali hurt in the process of fulfilling this legacy? Was she forcing an enormous responsibility upon her daughter ? When would the self-sacrifice on the part of the House Of El ever end? Would they always have to endanger their own lives for the sake of mankind? When did their responsibility to the legacy end and their personal commitments to their relationships begin?

These were the thoughts running through Kara's mind as she perused the memories of her life on earth as captured within the various pictures and souveniers that she had collected over the years. Ethan insisted on this room being built for her when they renovated the house. It was a project he undertook with Kal-El because they obviously could not hire contractors for such a delicate task.

"When did everything change between us Ethan? What should I do?" she whispered as she picked up the recent portrait that Jimmy took of them at the party. Ethan had his body turned away from her in it. He did not look happy at all. She fought back the tears as she remembered how angry he was that day. She should have seen the signs that their marriage was in trouble but she chose to ignore it. Hoping it would resolve itself like all the other problems they had faced in the past.

****

Through her half closed eyes, she saw her mother disappear into the closet. What was behind the wall? Her curiosity getting the better of her, Kali slowly got out of bed and headed for the now closed closet door.

_"Mommy, where are you?" _she heard Kali's muffled voice beyond the walls of the room.

"I'm in here Kali. Open the closet and float up a bit inside. There is a light switch near the ceiling, flick it and the door will open for you." she instructed.

She wiped away her tears as she heard the pressurized door opening. She had made up her mind the day that Ethan left them that Kali would never see her crying. Whether Kali knew it or not, she was the only thing holding her mother together at that point in time.

"Wow! What room is this mommy?" Kali rushed over to the rack that held her mother's Supergirl suits. "I want one mommy!"

_"It's a game to her."_ Kara sadly realized as Kali grabbed a cape and ran around the room, holding it behind her. It was obvious to her that Kali still did not fully grasp the responsibility of being a Supergril.

"You will wear those suits when you get older Kali. In the meantime, just enjoy learning to use your powers. There is no rush for you."

She lept lightly onto her mother's lap and settled in as Kara wrapped her arms around Kali's waist. They used the cape as a blanket to snuggle under as they sat together.

"Mommy..."

"Yes sweetie?"

"Does daddy hate us?"

She choked on her own breath at the question. What would ever drive Kali to ask such a question?

"Don't be silly Kali. Daddy loves us both very much."

"That's not true mommy. I heard him."

"Heard him say what?"

"Mommy, why doesn't he want us to be Supergirls?"

So that was it. Kali had heard everything. She should have known that Kali's super hearing would have become active the same time as all her other powers. She should have been more careful. Maybe warned Ethan and took him out of the house to talk to him.

"Mommy?"

"It isn't that he doesn't want us to be Supergirls Kali. He is just worried that we could get hurt. There are some people out there who do not like us. They want to hurt us so they can continue to do the bad things that we stop them from doing. Daddy just doesn't want to see us being hurt because he cannot protect us the way that we can protect him."

"Why doesn't he talk to grandfather and gradnmother? They can explain it to him like they did me."

"It isn't that simple Kali. Your daddy isn't like us. He is a full blooded human he does not understand about our powers and responsibilities as well as we do. That we were born to protect all of those which have a life. Be it animal or human Kali, we protect them equally."

"So Daddy does not want us to protect him or the animals or mankind? That is mean!"

"He isn't being mean Kali. You are just too young to understand what is going on right now." How could she explain that he was being protective of them and nothing more? That is what was making Ethan angry, the fact that he remained powerless to protect them from certain dangers that his world posed to the people he loved the most.

"Kali, are you sure you want to be a Supergirl like me? You don't have to be if you don't want to." She was going to give her daughter the choice that was not given to her.

"I want to be a Supergirl mommy. Grandmother says that I can do plenty of good things. I can continue to protect the world when you and uncle Kal-El get too old to do it. Mommy, this is who we are. I understand it. I am not an ordinary child. I understand and accept that."

"Okay. Just remember, you can stop being a Supergirl anytime you want to." she would leave that door open for her. This was a legacy she could turn her back on if she wanted to. Only Kara really had a sort of payback attached to the legacy and she was willing to fulfill that. But her daughter, she should be free of the legacy if she wishes to be. Just as Ethan wanted.

"Mommy, promise me something?"

"Promise you what Kali?"

"Promise me we won't ever stop being Supergirls? I want to protect the planet. I want to be just like you and Uncle Kal-El."

"I can't promise you that Kali."

"Why not mommy?"

"Well, your father is asking me for something else."

"Daddy is selfish! I don't like him anymore!"

"Karalinda Lee Logan! You will stop talking about your father that way!" she warned her. "No matter how bad it sounds to you, he has only our best interest at heart! Do not ever forget that!"

_"He has only our best interest at heart." _

Her own words resonated within her thoughts. She needed to talk to somebody who could understand what she was going through. Who would know what she could best do in the situation. She needed her parents.

****

Lucy was half awake when she showed up at Linda's door around midnight. Linda had suddenly called her over and Jimmy was kind enough to drop her off even though he had just gotten hom from work and looked like he was ready to fall into bed. They were living together in her apartment until she became comfortable enough with the idea of being married to him. Lucy was a new aged woman who did not believe that marriage was necessary in order to share your life with the man of your dreams. Seeing what her best friend was currently going through was not helping to change her mind regarding her opinion of marriage either.

"This better be good Linda. I was already dreaming of my first job at the Daily Planet when you woke me. You are lucky Jimmy came home otherwise I do not know how I would have gotten here. You know I cannot drive half asleep."

"I really, really apologize for doing this to you Lucy. But you are the only one I can leave with Kali on short notice without her throwing a temper tantrum. I need to go to Heritage Island for a few hours."

"Is something wrong?" Lucy's voice suddenly filled with concern. It was never good for either Kal-El or Kara to need to go to their respective little Kyrptons on Earth. That always meant a big problem brewing.

"No. Nothing is wrong. I just need to talk to my parents right now. There is a decision I have to make and I cannot make it without hearing their opinion first." She was leading Lucy up to the master's bedroom.

"Shouldn't we take her to her room?" Lucy knew Kali was too heavy for her to lift. "She has to learn to sleep in her own room." she continued in a whisper.

"Kali can stay here tonight. Just sleep with her and explain to her that I left for a while in case she wakes , if she says anything negative about her dad, just ignore her alright?" Linda walked over to the window and opened it. "I should be back in a few hours."

"What did Ethan do this time? " Lucy was pretty much fed up with what she perceived to be his temper tantrum and wished he would just get over it already. She had no idea of the real gravity of the situation that Linda and Ethan's relationship was facing. The silence between them was enough for Lucy to understand that Linda troubled and needed space right now.

"We'll be here Linda. Just... be careful out there alright? Don't get distracted while flying." she somehow still could not shake the thought that some evil force from the past was hovering around her friend, who smiled at her before flying off into the chilly fall night. Lucy hurriedly closed the window after her to preserve the warmth in the room.

****

Kal-El screwed on the last piece of the puzzle that would help the newly built motor function the way it was designed to. All he needed now was Ethan's car to mount it into.

"Ethan will now be a real member of the House Of El father." he smiled as he spoke to the disembodied voice once again.

"Ethan will forever be human no matter what you or Kara do. No amount of technology or magick will change that. You will soon see what kind of folly you have created Kal-El."

"Can't you be supportive for just once father? If you can't be a part of the solution, then please, I beg of you father, do not make the problem any worse." Kal-El threw down the greasy rug he was holding and went to lie down on a slab of ice for a while. He had been working non-stop for the past 3 days and needed to clear his thoughts. How could he get Ethan to lend him his car?

****

The island emerged like a whale amidst the darkness of the sea. It welcomed Kara into its loving embrace, seemingly responsive to the mixed emotions she had within her at the time. Everything came to life as she walked through the halls of the dome towards the hall of records where the computer bearing her parents images was housed. The holographic images came to life as the sensors picked up on her entry into the room.

"What is troubling you my child? Our sensors indicate a hieghtened sense of sadness, worry, and indecision within you." Alura asked.

"Mother, I don't know who to turn to. I need advise. I am at a point in my life when I am being forced to choose between who I am and who Ethan wants me to be." she did her best to control her emotions as she took a seat infront of the image console.

"He wants you to complete the humanization process?" Alura seemed to be expecting the situation.

"Yes mother. But I do not know if I can, or if I should. I know Kal-El did it before...."

"Kal-El did it once before for all the wrong reasons. He was being selfish at the time and chose to stop honoring the memory of his people in the name of his heart. That is something that we had hoped we had prepared you to decide about when the time came. However, we did not expect it to come this soon."

"Tell me what to do mother."

"Nobody can tell you what to do Kara. This is one time when you must follow the dictates of your heart. Listen to it. What does it tell you to do? There is no wrong or right answer this time my child. Do what you believe will be best for you and Kali. For your family."

"My heart tells me to be selfish. But I was raised better than that. The council had told me that the Kryptonian blood will continue to run within the veins of my children and our duty would be to honor that great past from which we all came from."

"Will that decision make you happy my child?"

"My sense of duty transcends personal happiness mother. I cannot willingly surrender our family legacy in the name of love.I can never lose sight of who I truly am and what my role is in this world. Kal-El has trained me well, just as you said he would. He helped me understand how much normalcy I can have in my life by human terms. I cannot and should not expect anything more. Having Kali, this family, it was an added bonus.A reward if you will." the sadness in her eyes was evident. She was saying what she knew would make her parents happy to hear, even though it was tearing her up inside to sacrifice her relationship with the only man she would ever love.

"Duties aside Kara, you cannot sacrifice your personal happiness in the name of our family legacy. Nobody could and would expect you to make such a sacrifice."

"It is a sacrifice I am willing to make mother. It is the only way I know to keep the memory of Argo City and Krypton alive. I just wish Ethan would understand that. " the frustration in her voice clued in her mother to the difficulties her daughter was experiencing.

"Do you understand why Ethan is asking you to make such a supreme sacrifice? Surely his opinions were shaped by some things in his life."

"Mother, we cannot carry on a conversation without arguing. That is why he moved out of the house. He refuses to discuss anything with me unless I am in total agreement with him." It suddenly occured to her that Zor-El had not made an appearance yet. "Is something wrong with father's hologram?"

"He is here. Listening to you. He asks that you get some sleep for now and allow us to help you in the morning. The sleep will help you clear your thoughts."

****

Ethan was sleeping on the sofa bed when the now familiar voice of his father in law pierced his subconsicious. The voice was probing, looking for clues as to why he had a sudden change of attitude towards his wife's family history. Surely the answers lay somewhere within the deep recesses of his mind. Among the memories he wanted to forget or keep hidden from the prying eyes of the world.

"You must remember Ethan. Remember where you came from. Remember why you fell in love with Kara..." Zorl-El's voice seemed to be instructing him.

"I don't want to remember. It hurts too much. Don't make me!" he was pleading loudly as he slept.

Suddenly he was ten years old again. He was sitting on a swing in the school playground during recess. The principal came over to him with a grim look on his face. This was the day he learned that his parents had died in a firey car crash while on their way to a school reunion in Smallville. He saw himself running away from the principal. He kicked the school security guard in the shin and swung himself out of the school gate. He was running at top speed now. Out of breath by the time he got home, the scene before him changed as he entered the hallway. It was now after his parents funeral.

His uncles and aunts were in a conclave inside the house while he sat on the steps of the porch, waiting for his fate to be decided. Who was he going to live with? Did any of them really want him to come live with them? The next thing he knew, he was packed up and leaving the only home he ever knew to live with his uncle, his mother's brother.

Ethan saw his life pass in review from that point. Now he was remembering and seeing how he had been tolerated by his relatives but not really loved nor welcomed into their family. They never wanted him to live for a long time with any of them. They treated him like a nuisance who needed to be put up with until some other relative came and took him away at the request of his previous caretaker. He was always an outsider looking in and getting by on their pity. He never really had a home after his parents died. Nobody really cared about him.

He was a teenager now. Running around with the wrong crowd while in high school saw him land in jail a few times. He had done it all. Petty theft left him with a juvy record that luckily, remained sealed and was eventually erased. He learned to drink around the same time too. So oftentimes he would be passed out in the street or sleeing in his own vomit at a friend's house. Ethan was not really a bad kid. He was just looking for acceptance. A place to call home. People who loved him instead of just tolerating him.

After coming out of Juvenile Hall at the end of one of his exploits, his relatives chose to disown him. They had enough of him and no longer wished to be bothered with trying to raise him. They were convicned he would never become an upright young man who could be an asset to society. They even took up a pool to see how long it would take before he landed in juvy again. Later on, they decided to turn over what was left of his parents gardening business to him and told him to grow up. Without anybody to lean on for support, guidance, or understanding, that was exactly what he was forced to do. But the rebel within him did not really take his job seriously. If nobody wanted to help or love him, then he did not want them either.

Then he came to the day that change his life. Linda's eyes staring at him as he was held captive inside the tractor basket. He would never forget the way he felt that day. The way her sea blue eyes calmed him down and reassured him. The love that it held for him when they shared that moment in the Wurlitzer. The pain it held when she left him all those times not because she wanted to, but because she belonged to a different world back then.

"Please, I do not want to remember any more. Stop it Zor-El!"

"Remember why you love my daughter Ethan. Do not destroy the special relationship that the two of you have. Being a family has nothing to do with heritage or legacies. You have to see, you have to understand. Yours is the most special family on this planet. Do not forsake what has been entrusted to you by the forces of the universe." he forced him to remember more than he was willing to recall.

Kara had turned his life around. Her love forced him to grow up in ways his relatives never realized he could. He wanted her to be proud of him, and proud of him she was. She loved him without condition. Even though he could never measure up to how special she was, she never let him feel anything other than that he was the most important part of her life. She gave him the sense of security and love that he longed for ever since his parents died. She provided him with a family that never shunned him nor made him feel merely tolerated. She had given him a new lease on life and yet there he was, willing to throw away everything she offered him. What a fool he was!

Kara loved him. He was always her priority. He just refused to share her with the world because he was afraid she would run out of love to give him. Now, with Kali around and her heightened duties as Supergirl, he feared that she was just tolerating him. That he had lost his place in her life because all her activities would make her tire of him. That is why he wanted her to stop being the special person that she was. He refused to accept that she had a heart that could love everyone equally. But that he was always that one special person whom she would love the most. He was her life just as she was his. She loved him with an intensity that he always tried to equal. She loved him more than her own life. She would do anything he asked of her to prove it. Why did he not realize that sooner? Why did he want to test her loyalty? Why did he want to push their love to its limits? Recalling everything they had been through, he realized how their love was the one constant thing in their lives that would never waver or change.

He sprang from bed drenched in sweat from fighting the memories Zor-El had forced him to relive. "What have I done? God! What have I done?"

Holding his head in his hands, he began sobbing like a man who had just realized that his family had died all over again. Through his closed eyes, he saw the eyes of Kara, the innocence and warmth that he loved to see within her doe like eyes was replaced with hatred and anger. A look that he had placed there because of his selfishness.

"Is it too late?" he asked Zorl-El.

"Nothing is ever too late my son."


	13. Understanding His Fears

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Characters in this story remain the property of DC Comics, Inc. Movie copyrights and trademarks are owned by Alexander & Ilya Salkind, Warner Bros. Pictures, and TriStar Pictures. The story contained herein is meant only for personal enjoyment and no money is being made from the story. No infringement is intended. I offer this fan fiction as a tribute to the creative teams involved in the actual production of both the movie and comic. However, I reserve the right to any original characters I create for the purpose of fan fiction story telling._

**Understanding His Fears**

Ethan had driven up to the house before sun-up. He looked up towards their bedroom window and saw it was open. What emergency was Kara attending to now? He decided not to go into the house so as not to wake Kali. Kara would see his car in the driveway anyway and she was sure to come and talk to him. If she didn't, then he would walk up to the door and ring the bell. He rolled down the car windows and reclined the driver's seat so he could close his eyes a bit.

Thanks to the subconscious visit from Zor-El, he had come to realize that the problem between them was not that she was a super hero, but rather, that they understood very little about their family backgrounds. All these years, they had survived only on the love they felt for each other. A love that was based solely on the time they had spent together and what they knew of each other until that moment. Neither of them really bothered to delve deeper into their pasts in order to understand how they each got to the current point in their lives. With the birth of Karalinda, the time had finally come for them to discover each others past. Not only because it would help strengthen their relationship as husband and wife, but because Kali deserved to know everything about her Kryptonian and human family sides.

A soft, cooling breeze passed through the open car windows as Kara landed outside his door. He met her with a loving smile on his face.

"What are you doing here? What else do you want me to do?" her voice had a demanding tone.

"Don't get mad. I came to talk to you. But not here." he opened the car door and got out. "Walk with me?" his voice was soft and uncertain. He had hurt her so much already that Ethan knew he would be lucky if she did not pick him up by his jaw and hurl him through the air. A manuver she often used on the drunken men she needed to put in their place during her missions.

"We don't have anything else to talk about. I told you to leave me alone for a few days. What you are asking me to do is not easy." her face was stern as she spoke.

"Please Kara. There is something you need to know about me." he held her hand and led her away from the driveway.

Her emotions could not help but soften at his touch. Damn him! she wanted to stay mad at him, to make him feel the same pain that she had been suffering at his hands lately. But all she could really do was follow him. She was weak when it came to Ethan. She loved him so much that she would do anything he asked, including completing the humanization process at the expense of the family legacy. That was the decision she had come to that morning before flying from the island. If she were not so angry with him, she would have probably told him that already.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she slowly changed into her street clothes as they neared the end of the driveway.

"There are some people I want you to meet." he replied.

Lucy watched them from the master's bedroom. She had heard the rustling leaves and knew that Kara had returned but had not entered the house.

"Work it out you two. For Kali's sake." she muttered as Kali stirred in bed.

****

They walked in silence for most of the trip but never let go of each other's hands. Each afraid that the other would let go, they gripped each other so tightly that Ethan's knuckles had turned white from the restricted bloodflow to his hand. They soon turned into a well manicured gate of the Midvale Memorial Park.

"What are we doing here?" Linda asked. Why would Ethan take her to a cemetery?

"The people I want you to meet, they are here." he explained as he led her around a rotunda and down a street that read Avenue A on the signage.

"I don't understand why you would want me to meet them here." she wondered.

"Because Linda, I want you to meet -- my parents." he walked up to a tombstone and knelt before it.

_Eric Logan Morrison_

_Cathy Morrison_

_Loving parents of Ethan. _

_Gone too soon. _

She knelt beside him and cupped his face lovingly in her hands. This was a side of him that she had never known about. It was no wonder that he helped her the way he did when she came to him after Argo City had been destroyed. He knew exactly how she felt.

"You never told me about them." she whispered. "Why is their surname Morrison and yours Logan?"

"You never asked me Linda. Just like I never asked you about yours. None of these information seemed important at the time. I did not want you to ever know about them."

"What do you mean? Our parents are important Ethan. I never asked because I thought that you would eventually introduce me to them. When you were ready. It never occurred to me that they were dead and that is why I never met them."

"I know Linda... It's just that... Zor-El, he came to me last night. He helped me realize some things. I need you to understand..." he began to ramble.

"Ethan, you're not making any sense."

"Don't know how to tell you..." his whole body began to shake.

"Ethan, what's happening? Are you ill?" She hugged him and rubbed his back to warm him up.

_"He doesn't want to remember Kara." _she heard her father's voice in her mind.

"What doesn't he want to remember father? How can I help him?" she asked worriedly.

"Should not tell you...Car crash...Ruin my image... Zor-El called me "my son"... family loves me..." Ethan's eyes rolled in its socket before her fell to the ground.

"Ethan!" Linda cried out in confusion as the morning sun beat upon them.

****

Kal-El's long range vision zeroed in on Ethan's car parked in their driveway as he flew over Midvale. He also noted that only Lucy was in the house with Kali thanks to his x-ray vision.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed as he leaned in the direction of the Logan house.

Lucy opened the door when he rang the bell.

"Tell Ethan I borrowed his car. I will bring it straight back." he instructed as he hoisted the car over his head and flew off with it.

"Kal-El! You don't know how to drive!" she hollered after him before realizing that he had flown away with the car upon his shoulders. She simply smiled and then closed the door.

"Aunt Lucy?" Kali was standing at the top of the stairs wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Where's mommy?"

"She'll be back soon sweetie. She had to go with daddy for a bit. Do you want some breakfast?"

****

_"Kara, listen to me, I will help you understand Ethan the way I helped him understand himself. Do everything I say." _Zor-El Instructed.

"Yes father." she replied with worry in her voice. Ethan lay at her feet unmoving. His face registering pain for some reason.

_"Carry him to the shade and lie beside him."_

Picking him up effortlessly, she lay him under the shade of the tree a number of steps away from the tombstone of his parents.

_"Lie beside him and hold his hand. Concentrate on hearing his thoughts my daughter. Be prepared for you will enter his subconscious world. You will see things he has hidden away for so long. "_

"I understand father." she placed herself in the position as instructed and soon found herself drifting off to sleep.

She was standing in front of a modest bungalow now. Laughter was emanating from within the open front door. She entered the house and followed the sound of happy bantering. In the backyard of the house, she saw a young man of no more than 20 and a woman even younger than him working in the garden patch. A little boy who had the under developed features of Ethan was busy alongside the man, digging up holes in the ground with his mini shovel.

"Ethan!" she exclaimed as she watched the happy family repotting various flowers and bulbs. The little boy was overcome with happiness and was playfully throwing soil towards his father's work area.

_"Stop doing that Ethan." _Eric playfully warned him as he scooped up the little boy and shook him around to drop his shovel. The boy laughed heartily as the shaking seemed to tickle his funny bone.

_"Stop it you two or we will never get this done before nightfall." _Catherine warned them with a smile on her face.

Ethan had an equal share of his parents looks. His father's eyes and his mother's smile combined to create the most striking facial features she had ever seen in a man, kryptonian or human, before.

"He was so happy as a child father. How can I see more?"

_"Be patient Kara. He has to want to show you more." _

Soon, the scene before her had changed. He was getting out of his parents car at school. They were saying goodbye and reminded him that they would be home on Sunday evening. He was to follow the instructions of the baby sitter to the letter and not give her any grief.

"Is this the day father?"

_"Yes Kara. It is." _

He was riding in a car with a man she had never seen before. He had a family resemblance that reminded her of Eric Logan Morrison. She could only surmise that this was perhaps a brother of his.

_"But they promised to come home on Sunday!"_ Ethan reasoned out between sobs as he sat in the front seat of the car.

_"They are dead Ethan. Now suck it up and deal with it like a man."_ the stranger said in a very harsh tone.

"Oh Ethan..." Kara cried softly, sensing the grief and fear of the child.

_"Who will I live with now?" _

_"That young man, is the problem. We all have more than enough children of our own to deal with without having to worry about an orphaned child of our brother's." _

In what seemed like a whirlwind of visions, she saw him being bounced around from home to home within his immediate family. Neither one of them actually paying attention to his needs nor helping him to grieve the loss of his family.

In one particularly vivid memory of his, it was Christmas morning and the family of the sister of his father had gathered around the Christmas tree to open presents.

Ethan had been sitting in a corner, completely ignored by the family. Not a single gift was passed on to him. He had been effectively forgotten by the family until lunchtime came and they remembered he was in the house.

She watched as he silently cried in his corner, calling out for his mom and dad. She made a move to go and console him.

_"Do not interfere my child. You must not to anything to alter his memories. You could change the future time line for yourself and him."_ Zor-El warned.

"But look at him father." she pleaded.

_"No Kara. Stay put." _

Suddenly, Kara's head was spinning from the sound of Ethan's voice as a young man. His voice broke as he screamed in sheer pain. It took a while for her vision to center on what was happening to him. He was reliving a moment. A moment that made him grip her hand so tightly and cause his body to have convulsions as he lay unconscious.

_"That will teach you to fail in school!" _A different man, but still with the family face of Eric, was hitting him as hard as he could across the knees with a wide belt buckle. Ethan's pants were pooled at his feet as he stood there wearing only his shorts and a very worn out jersey shirt that was at least 4 sizes too big for him.

_"Stop it Uncle Nick! I am begging you!" _Ethan cried out as his knees gave out from under him. He tried to grab onto his uncle for support but he tore his hands away from his body.

The man picked him up from the floor by his shirt cuff and punched him in the stomach. Ethan curled up in a heap on the floor from the impact. Blood trailed out from the corner of his mouth.

_"Waste my money on your useless education! You are just like my brother! You will never amount to anything! You crappy piece of dung! You should have died with them! You are a leech sucking on the Morrison family! A disgrace to the family legacy!" _

She could not help herself any longer. Kara ran forward and tried to grab the man who was hurting him but her hands passed through him as if she were a ghost.

_"Do not intervene! Just listen and understand."_ she was warned angrily by her father.

_"Mom! Dad! I can't take it anymore! Help me! Take me! I will welcome death just so this suffering will end!"_ Ethan prayed when his uncle finally stopped beating him and walked away. Leaving him to medicate his wounds and welts on his own.

_"Do not help that freeloader unless you want to be beaten yourself."_ his uncle warned his children who had began to approach Ethan to help him.

Kara finally realized what his greatest fear was. Ethan could never tell when he might die and her insistence on rescuing the people of Midvale, of earth, could one day leave Kali without any parents early on in her life. He did not wish for Kali to undergo the traumatic events that he went through. It was a pain no parent would ever willingly allow a child suffer.

As if reacting to the painful memories, he forced himself to recall his safe place. His happy place where he felt most secure and loved. His memories were all of his moments with her. She was his safe place. Now that she had seen his life and his fears, she finally understood where he was coming from.

****

She felt his body relax as he recalled more and more of their moments together. It did not take long for Kara to wake up beside him at the very same moment that he too opened his eyes. It was almost mid day.

They stared at each other, communicating without words. It was Kara who broke the silence.

"The way those people treated you, I can understand why you dropped the Morrison from your name."

"Logan was my father's middle name. I couldn't continue using Morrison. Not after all the things they made me go through. When my parents died, I forgot what it was like to love and be loved. Then you came along..." Ethan explained before an awkward silence came between them again.

"Let's go home hon. I understand everything now." she gently took his hand so they could stand up together. All of their altercations were now forgiven and forgotten. Understanding and compromise were now in its place for both of them.

He gripped her hand ever so tightly. Afraid that she would let him go. Somehow, she understood the message he was trying to convey to her.

"I'll never let you go. I'll always love you, no matter what happens. I am the one constant in your life." she reassured him the only way she knew how. By tracing his lips with her thumb.

He closed his eyes and felt the heightened sensation that her touch awakened within him. Taking a deep breath and pulling her closer to him, he smelled her strawberry scented hair as she lay her head on his chest.

"Love each other forever?" he lifted her face closer to his.

"For eternity." she parted her lips just slightly to allow his lips to envelop hers with such a passion that they both knew their love could overcome any problems that may come their way.


	14. The Monster Revealed

**The Monster Revealed**

Lucy could not believe how fast the little girl was growing up. She knew that Kryptonians developed faster than humans but being a half breed, she expected Kali to slow down to an almost human pace of development. From the looks of it, the human DNA had nothing on its Kryptonian counterpart. For all physical intents and purposes, nobody would have said that this little girl had been born only a few days ago. She had all the physical attributes of a six year old child, which led Lucy to wonder as to whether she had the mental abilities of the same age as well.

After playing one game of scrabble and chess with Kali, Lucy found her question answered. The child was far more advanced than any Earth child. It seemed to her that Kali absorbed instructions like a sponge and had the analytical ability of a super computer. She found herself exhausted after playing all the board games that they could find in the house.

"I'm tired Kali. Let's rest while we wait for your mom and dad okay?" she suggested when asked what they would be doing next.

"But I'm not tired Aunt Lucy. I'm bored." Kali whined as she turned the knob manually on the TV set. "Oops! I broke it!"

Lucy turned around from the shelf where she was putting away the games in the lower cabinet. Kali stood there holding the television knob in her hand.

"I can't stick it back in. Can't change channels. Will mom be mad?" the child said worriedly.

"Didn't Kara teach you to control your strength?" Lucy took the knob from her hand and put it on the shelf. "Your dad will just have to fix this when he comes home later."

"She did. But I often forget." The child walked over to the window and tried to see if her mother was flying in yet. "Dad is never coming back. He doesn't want us." Kali told her.

Lucy did as Linda had instructed her and ignored what the child said. She knew that the child was wrong and Ethan loved his family. He just needed time to embrace and fully understand the situation.

Kali was surprised to see that she could see so far ahead of her that her vision focused on the playground 20 blocks away. A group of little girls were playing Lacrosse on the small field.

"Aunt Lucy, what are they playing?"

"What is who playing?" Lucy replied absentmindedly.

"Those girls."

"Where?" Lucy went over to the window to see what Kali was asking about. "There's nothing there Kali."

"Yes there is. Girls like me. they are running around throwing a ball into a stick with nets. "

Lucy recognized the sport, Lacrosse. The very sport that Linda and she played on the team of at Midvale School for Girls. Had it really been that long already since they got out of high school? So, the child had an interest in sports just like her mom. Now she knew how to fill the rest of the child's time while waiting.

"It's called Lacrosse. Your mom and I used to play that game in high school." A thought suddenly occurred to her. Did Kara know that Kali's long distance vision was was now active?

"The Lacrosse field is 20 blocks away. Why don't we walk over so you can watch them play? Maybe they will let you play with them." she coaxed.

"I don't know. I was told never to leave the house without mom or Uncle Kal-El."

"We will leave her a note. C'mon kid. Linda won't mind. You will be with Auntie Lucy."

****

The first time Kara had flown away with Ethan in her arms, she had been a new visitor to the planet and she was trying to save his life as he lay unconscious in a bump car. This time, she was flying with him alongside her, wide awake and smiling at her. It seemed to her like a heavy load had been lifted from him and he could not wait to get on with their life as a family.

"So, Kali can fly now? How old is she in human years?" he struggled to make himself heard over the roar of the wind current passing over them.

"Yes. She is quite excited to show you what she can do. She's almost like a mini-me." Kara pulled him closer so she could talk into his ear.

"I'm excited to show her how much I love her and how proud I am of her." he noticed Kara's face turn to sadness before she smiled at him.

"Ethan, Kali loves you. But, there are some things she still has to understand about you. She heard you say some things... If she she resents you at first... Just be patient okay? She's our daughter. She will come around." Kara hoped that Ethan understood what she implying.

"It was all my fault Kara. When I first held her in my arms, I let her feel my love. Then I shunned her and ignored her all because of my personal views. My selfish motives. I ignored her because I did not know how to treat her. I have a lot of mending to do with her."

****

Since Kali was not used to being around other children, she was apprehensive about stepping into the park and talking to other kids. Choosing to sit on a bench near the playing field, Lucy did her best to coax her to try mingling with the other kids who were there to try out for Lacrosse Little League.

"Don't be afraid Kali, go ahead and talk to them. Just don't use your powers okay?" she encouraged her while one of the players got together an extra set of equipment for Kali to borrow during the game.

"But I do not know how to play." Kali reasoned out as Lucy tried but failed to pull her off the bench.

"Please don't make Aunt Lucy pull an hernia Kali. Just try it. Humor me?"

The little girl heaved a sigh before finally standing up and walking silently towards the rest of the girls on the field.

With a little coaching from one of the mothers who acted as the team coach, Kali was well on her towards helping the team win their practice game. She was throwing the ball into the goal with the greatest of accuracy and stealing it from the other team even before they knew she had passed in front of them.

"Pace yourself Kali! Not too fast!" Lucy urged her to slow down when the game entered into a time-out.

"Does she play for any little league team?" the coach asked Lucy after the game. "We sure could use somebody that fast and accurate on our team."

"No. This is actually her first time out on the field. I guess she takes after her mother though. She used to play for Midvale School for Girls."

"Whose her mother?"

"I don't think you know her. She used to be Linda Lee. She's Linda Logan now." Lucy volunteered the information.

"Nerdy Linda Lee? The gal who broke the Lacrosse ball on her back?"

"How did you know..."

"You're Lucy! I almost did not recognize you! The two of you were inseparable at school! I can't believe she's a mother now too! You have changed a lot over 4 years. Don't you recognize me?" the woman put on her glasses, hoping it would jog Lucy's memory.

Now that Lucy stared at the woman before her, memories from high school came back to her. Somehow she saw this woman fatter, wearing glasses, trying to torment Linda in the school hallway... It couldn't be! But it was -- Muffy!

"Muffy? Muthilda? Is it really you?" She could not believe her eyes. The school bully was now a little league coach. Who would have thought that she would work for the Midvale School for Girls?

"Yep! It's me. Is there any chance I can talk to Linda about getting that kid of hers on my team? She plays just like her mother." Muffy complimented Kali.

"I dunno. Linda doesn't even know that we left the house." Lucy replied uncertainly.

"Well, maybe I can convince her. After all, the kid will be playing little league for our alma mater. She is going to enroll in school this year right?"

"I don't know...." she glanced over at Kali who was sharing an energy drink with the rest of the practice team. She seemed to take to the social situation better than her mother did. As a student at Midvale, Linda was always reserved and quiet in her own little corner. She wasn't comfortable among the other students or people if she wasn't there with at least one person she trusted. Usually Ethan or Lucy. Maybe it was because Linda was caught between two cultures for a very long time.

"Look, give her my card. Have her call me. Tell her I am no longer the bully that she knew. I'd love to catch up with her." Muffy handed Lucy a small slip of cardboard that contained her contact information. "Principal Danvers isn't going to believe this."

"Is he still the principal?" Lucy was surprised to hear the familiar name of their tormented high school principal.

****

They flew into the open window of their bedroom, tired but happy. Ethan sunk onto the bed and moaned. He missed sleeping on the soft mattress that contoured to his shape as he stretched out. His aching body looking for comfort and relaxation.

"Lucy, we're back. Can you bring Kali up here please?" Linda hollered downward of the stairway as she held their bedroom door open.

"Lucy?" no response. "I'll be right back." she told Ethan.

Just as she was about to panic at the thought that something horrible had happened to her child and best-friend, she spotted something stuck to the door of the refrigerator with a magnet.

_Linda, _

_I took Kali to the park. She got restless while waiting. Did you know her long distance vision has already kicked in? Be back as soon as I tire her out or she craves lunch. Which ever comes first. _

_Lucy_

Taking the note in her hand, she returned to the room. "Looks like Kali and Lucy are out till lunch. I better follow them and bring her back. Who knows what powers Kali has accidentally displayed by now?"

She passed by the bed absentmindedly as she used her own long distance vision as she stood by the bedside window to see what her daughter was up to. She was just about to zero in on their location when she felt Ethan sensuously wrap his arms around her.

"Worry about them later?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her. Wanting to keep her by his side for as long as he could.

She felt the heat of his half naked body sear through her own clothes. She froze where she stood as she came to realize what would happen next, and she would willingly submit to everything he desired of her. For now she understood that her first responsibility was to him and their family, to take care of him and Kali, assure them that she would never take them for granted. If this was one of the best ways to prove her love for him each time he may have his doubts, then she would never withhold it from him.

Within moments he had her out of her clothes and he was out of his remaining coverings. Her forgiveness poured out for him as they proved their love for each other while in bed. She was not going to hold back. Their family could now be mended, because their love was now healed.

Lucy saw the master's bedroom window closed with its curtains down as they approached the house. She smiled a knowing smile.

"Kali, let's go have some ice cream first okay?"

****

He opened his eyes and saw her still locked in his arms with her back turned. She was breathing steadily in her sleep. "You did not leave?" he asked her.

Her eye fluttered open as she smiled at the sound of his voice waking her. "I would never leave you Ethan. All those times I had to... You have to understand, just like I understand now. My family is my priority but when Midvale or any other part of the world needs me, you will have to learn to share me okay? Don't worry about me. I will always come back to you, safe and sound. Our love will protect me." She reassured him as she turned over in his arms to face him.

The clock struck noon. She jumped upright in bed, throwing his arms off of her in the process. She was late!

"School! I'm late. Leighton will have my head!" She covered up with the blanket and headed to the bathroom to freshen up before leaving.

"I would offer to drive you but I know you can get there faster if I don't." Ethan grabbed his pants and pulled over his shorts.

"I didn't see your car in the driveway when we arrived honey." Linda kissed him before grabbing her shoulder bag and heading out the door.

"You didn't? I wonder if Lucy borrowed it?"

"They went to the park, not the mall."

They headed down the stairs together just as Lucy and Kali were walking into the hallway.

"Kali!" Ethan was very happy to see his daughter. He made a move to hug her but she sped away from them towards the kitchen.

The two women looked at Ethan pitifully.

"It will take time Ethan. Just keep trying to get through to her." Linda reminded him. "Lucy, heading to school?"

"Not till 2. I can stay and sit with Kali till then. So Ethan can go to work." she volunteered.

"Did you bring my car back?" Ethan asked Lucy.

"Oh, about your car. Kal-El borrowed it." she explained. "He said he would bring it back straightaway."

"What would Kal-El need with my car?" he addressed Linda who just shrugged her shoulders. What would her cousin need a car for anyway?

"I'll take the bus then. Please tell Kal-El to bring the car to the office when he is done with it?" he instructed Lucy.

"You bet."

****

Kali had gone up to her room on the insistence of her mother. Lucy helped her get cleaned up before tucking her into bed for a mid morning nap. She then went into the kitchen and whipped up some lunch for both of them. The doorbell rang just as she was about to put some instant cream of mushroom soup on the stove.

"Who is it?" she asked as she peeked into the peephole.

"Aneles. Kali's baby sitter." came the voice from the other side.

Lucy unlocked the door and let her in.

"Where's Linda?" she asked upon seeing Lucy at the door. This was going to be easier than she thought.

"At the school. She did not tell me that you were coming." Lucy was obviously distrustful of Aneles. Something really spooked her about this woman.

"Kali! Your sitter is here!"

"No!" Kali came speeding down the stairs. She hugged Lucy's legs tightly. "Don't leave me with that monster! Please aunt Lucy! Take me with you!"

"Kali, Kali, let go of my legs." She untangled the child and lovingly hit her but to send her up the stairs. "I will call you later."

"I think you and I have to talk." she told Aneles, leading the way to the kitchen.

"Certainly." Aneles followed her.

Lucy did not notice her take out a small drawstring back and empty its contents out onto her hand. They sat at the counter facing each other.

"Now what is it you want to talk to me about?" Aneles asked.

"I was just wondering, have I met you before? You seem awfully familiar."

"I don't think so." she lied.

"Are you sure? With somebody named Selena? You look like that woman who... Wait a minute. Aneles... Selena.... Bianca!" Lucy screamed as she saw the reflected image from the stainless steel stove.

Lucy scrambled from the kitchen, she needed to protect Kali. Why didn't she believe her when she kept saying Aneles was a monster?

_"Congelo!" _Bianca froze Lucy where she stood with the command of her voice.

Lucy was trying to fight the spell that had been cast upon her. Her very minute movement could still be seen by Bianca. "Don't fight it. You don't have what it takes."

Standing in front of Lucy she blew the dust up the young woman's nose. _"O__peror ut Inquam vacuus defici! Do as I say, without fail!"_

Try as she might to not breathe, Lucy could not help but inhale the dust. She felt her body go numb, her mind seemed to go blank. She had no control over her body. All she could hear was Bianca's sinister laugh piercing her consciousness.

"First you, then the child, and then... Supergirl."

_****_

Kali heard the front door close moments later.

"Is she gone?" she asked upon seeing her aunt stirring the soup pot that was now brownish instead of creamy in color. "What smells bad?"

"Yes. That's just the soup. The color isn't so good but I know you will like it. Now sit down while I get our lunch ready." Lucy assured her.

Kali did not notice the glass eyed looked in her aunts eyes. She followed everything she said because Kara had told her to do everything Lucy said. Kara would soon learn how wrong she was to tell her daughter to do that. For within the hallway coat closet, Bianca lay in wait to take the child with the help of her unwilling foot soldier, Lucy.


	15. Anathema !

**Anathema !**

The potion enhanced soup had the desired side effect on the little girl. She lay on the couch, curled up in a fetal position beside Lucy who was slowly feeling the effects of the controlling dust wear off. She had a headache that felt like Kara had given her a super slap across the face that left her vision blurry. Her ears also had a high pitched ringing sound within that she could not shake. She tried to stand up and head to the bathroom to wash her face but ended up slumping into a nearby chair.

Bianca continued to watch the activities of the two from the safety of the coat closet. When she was sure that they would not hear her, she pulled a small compact out of her satchel and opened it.

_"Connect my voice and image through time and space _

_to Lucila, daughter of Selena, _

_rightful heir to the titles _

_Diodenes of Catania, _

_Priestess of Sekhnet, _

_Ultimate Siren of Endor."_

At the other end of town, in Lucila's office, her glazed wall frame mirror began to shake unsteadily, it seemed like the mirror would fall off its hook at any moment. Lucila immediately stood up from her desk where she was signing some grade sheets. Holding the mirror steady with one hand she saw Bianca's real image come into view.

"We got lucky." Bianca began. "I did not have to over power the child. Lucy was still here so I cast a spell upon her instead. It did not take long for me to get control of the situation."

"Very good. I was worried that I would have to send that useless creature on a wild goose chase just so we could separate her from Linda." She glanced at her watch. "The ceremony will begin in a half hour. Do you think you can really sway the child to help us with our plans?"

"There is no way she won't help us. Our plan is fool-proof. We shall be there before the awarding is finished." she closed the compact and opened the closet door.

Binding Lucy's hands and mouth with duct tape, she dragged her into the garage and locked the door that led into the house. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she stood before Kali, who was kicking in her sleep and calling out for her mother. With a low voice, she called upon the;

"_"Witches great and witches wise,_

_  
shield me now from watchful eyes,_

_close this child's third eye _

_so that she may only look at and see_

_  
__the image of whom I wish to be!"_

Smoke billowed from beneath her feet as her transformation slowly began to take effect. Closing her eyes, she envisioned the person she wished to become. With neck length brown hair, a small build, mid-pitched voice, and an exact replica of her clothes, Bianca had transformed into the only person Kali was told to trust at that very moment, Lucy !

"Kali, Kali..." she slowly nudged the child to wake up.

"Ungh! Wanna sleep..."

"Wake up Kali, your mom wants me to bring you to our school."

"Mommy?" she turned over and began to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. "Alright Aunt Lucy. I am coming. Let me change clothes first."

****

Linda wondered what had the students talking so excitedly as she entered her college building. They were all tapping her on the back and congratulating her for something. She missed the announcement over the sound system. No school for the rest of the afternoon. Instead, a student assembly was going to be held. She joined the other students heading for the auditorium.

"Linda." Lucila pulled her into her office as she passed by. "You won't be sitting with the other students. You can walk with me to the auditorium."

"What's going on professor?" Linda asked as she watched Lucila take a small flask out of her desk before signaling that they should leave the room already.

"Classes have been canceled for the rest of the day. The awarding ceremony for the creative writing contest starts in 15 minutes. The winners are supposed to walk in with their creative writing professors." she explained as she locked the door to her office. She took a big drink from the flask and offered it to Linda.

"I won? I won!" Linda's joyously declared.

"Yes you did. Now I want you to try this drink. It's being served at the party tonight.

Even though she had apprehensions about drinking liquids offered to her by strangers, she did not want to offend her professor. She took the flask and took a small sip.

"Drink it up. Don't you like it? It's my own concoction, Raspberry juice with a hint of mango extract." Lucila told her, refusing to take the flask back.

"It tastes good." she lied. The taste reminded her of a very thick chocolate milkshake with rough crushed ice mixed into it. Swallowing it gave her an uncomfortable sensation in the throat. She felt momentarily wierded out before regaining her composure.

Linda held the flask to her lips, hoping she did not have to drink the rest of it. But Lucila stopped walking and waited for her to finish the drink.

"That's more like it." she had a sinister glint in her eyes when she finally took the empty flask back. Linda was so busy basking in the thought of her big win that she failed to notice the look on the professor's face.

"Can we stop by the pay phone? I need to call my husband. He should be here with me."

"Of course." Lucila motioned with her head for Linda to walk on ahead. _"He should be here to witness the special treat I have in store for you and your family." _she thought.

****

Kal-El flew directly to Ethan's office. Leaving the car in the parking slot, he was Clark Kent by the time he reached the front door of the office. Everyone there was so used to seeing his cousin in law speed walking through the office that nobody paid him any attention anymore. Knocking on Ethan's office door, he turned the knob and let himself in. Ethan abruptly ended the phone call he was on.

"I hope you brought my car back."

"It's in the parking lot. Can you come with me? There's something I need to show you."

"I'm headed that way anyway. That was Kara on the phone. Her classes have been canceled for the day. She is accepting an award and she wants me to be there. It would be a treat for her if you could be there to." he grabbed his brown leather jacket from the back of his chair on their way out.

****

The winners paraded across the auditorium stage with their respective mentors who soon left the stage after taking an honorary bow with their student. Lucila made sure that she would always be within close proximity to Linda by managing to convince the other judges to allow her to host the ceremony.

Linda was beginning to wonder about the contents of the drink. there was something about the drink that made her feel physically heavy. This was a different sensation from her pregnancy symptoms. She tried to shake off the sensation by concentrating on the audience door entrance, Ethan would be walking in any minute now. In the meantime, she pretended to listen to the opening remarks of their college dean.

****

"Ethan, there are a few things you need to know about your car now." Kal-El began as the engine roared to life.

It's okay Clark. I can understand that you need to learn how to drive." he assured him.

"No. It isn't that. You know I don't need to drive." he paused before asking Ethan to pull over.

"No, I will not pull over. We have to be at the school in 15 minutes Clark. Whatever it is can wait."

"But..."

"Later. The car is running fine. Zip it."

****

Lucy awoke as the coldness of the garage pavement began to seep into her skin. She tried to shout but then only heard a muffled sound escape from her lips. Realizing that she was gagged and bound, she kept rolling on the floor until she hit the wall. Maneuvering herself in an awkward fashion, she finally managed to get upright and then eventually into a standing position. Almost falling a few times as she skipped across the floor, she reached the sawing table of Ethan that he used for building plant boxes which he sold to his clients. Very carefully, she began rubbing the duct tape that bound her hands behind her across the protruding blade. As soon as her hands came free, she ripped off the tape from her mouth and tried to get into the house through the connecting door. Finding it locked, she hit the automatic door button and ran to the front of the house. Luckily, Bianca had not locked the door when she left with Kali.

"Kali? Kali! Karalinda!" Lucy felt her sense of panic rising when she received no response to her calls. She hoped that her woman's intuition was wrong and Kali was not with Bianca. Only God knew what Bianca would do to the child. Kara! She needed to get to the school. Kara would know what to do. She ran out of the house and jumped into her car, burning rubber as she peeled out onto the street.

****

"Thank you for your inspiring words of wisdom Dean Stanton." Leighton addressed the dean as he made his way to his seat at the bottom of the stage. "Now, we shall proceed with the awarding ceremony. Professor Chancey shall hand the winners their trophies and gift certificates from the Midvale Mall."

Out of the corner of her eye, Linda saw Ethan and Clark walk into the room. Waving at them, she smiled and pointed them over to the seats reserved for them 3 rows away from the stage.

A few awards and thank you speeches later, Linda's category was finally up for announcement.

"The next award is for the Best Science Fiction Short Story category. The winner, has written a compelling essay about the adventures of a young woman named Arak who left her home on Orga City to come to earth in search of a powerful life source which was lost to her people. While on earth, the woman learned about the dark arts, the human ways, and first love. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, one of our most promising Senior Journalism students, Ms. Linda Lee Logan." Professor Leighton introduced her.

Standing up from her chair on the stage, she accepted the trophy from Professor Chancey. As soon as her hands grasped the statuette, Linda felt her strength being sapped out of her. Had the professor not been there to help her, she would have dropped the trophy.

"Something is wrong." Ethan noted as soon as he saw her almost drop the trophy.

"I know. We need to get to that trophy. I don't like the looks of this." Kal-El added.

Before anybody knew what was happening, a hurricane force wind swept through the auditorium, crushing seats and throwing the spectators against walls and out of the door.

Holding on tightly to Ethan, Kal-El super glanced around the room and saw that Leighton was standing off to a corner of the stage, seemingly entranced as chaos enveloped her surroundings.

"The professor is doing this!" he spoke clearly into Ethan's ear.

"Kara!" Ethan exclaimed as he saw Linda changed into her costume, using the flying debris as her cover. She tried to make her way across the stage but was thrown against the wall by the wind gusts.

Taking off his necktie and belt, Kal-El secured Ethan onto the nearby steel flagpole before springing into action.

"Kara! Are you alright?" He asked as he helped up from the heap she had landed in.

"I'm fine Kal-El. Now let's end this." she brushed herself off and kicked off in order to fly. She landed on the floor with a thud. "What's happening?"

Looking back towards Ka-El, she saw him start to fall to the floor. She suddenly felt herself weakening as well. She knew what was going on. She and Kal-El were being poisoned. They needed to get away from the Kryptonite. But where was the Kryptonite? Crawling her way towards Kal-El, she lost her strength and stopped. Turning onto her back in order to help her breathe.

"Kara... The Kryptonite. Where is it? Ethan, Ethan can help us." he weakly whispered. Their super hearing still intact, she could only nod weakly at him and try to call out for her husband.

The last image that Kara and Kal-El saw was that of the professor kneeling over Kara, holding a glowing green switchblade.

"Professor, what have you done? Why are you doing this?" she asked through her labored breath.

"What have I done? What am I doing this? Come on Linda, or should I say Supergirl? You and Superman took the life of somebody very dear to me. I am avenging her death." she held the blade high above her head before finally plunging it into Kara's stomach.

"It wasn't hard to plot your destruction once I had the proper help that I needed. Bianca survived the Phantom Zone you know. with her help, I had access to the Kryptonite I needed, which is in the trophy you held, and the dust of the Phantom Zone, that sapped you of your strength. You will not survive this time Supergirl." Lucila laughed diabolically as she watched Kara squirming on the floor, trying to get away from the trophy that was only 2 feet away.

"This is the anathema of Selena! I will take your life in exchange for my mother's life!" she bellowed as she twisted the dagger within. The Kryptonite, having taken its desired effect on the skin elasticity of Kara, allowed the sharp blade to cut through as if it were ripping paper apart.

"Kara!" Ethan found the strength to break through the constraints and run to his wife's side. Lucila was long gone before he finally made it to the stage.

"Ethan... Ethan... it hurts honey. It hurts really bad. Kal-El. Look at Kal-El." she placed her hand over the aching part of her body. She saw her own blood on her hand.

"Kara.... Kara.... no. I'm not leaving you. This isn't supposed to happen! You are super beings!" he felt his tears begin to swell. Feeling hopeless, he pulled Kal-El nearer to Kara's position. "Tell me what to do Kal-El!"

"The trophy, it's the trophy. Get rid of it."

Grabbing the trophy from the floor, Ethan hurled it as far as he could out the broken window of the auditorium.

"What now?" he asked Kal-El urgently.

"Take the knife out of Kara."

"Ethan.... I can't, I can't hold on much longer." Kara's voice was almost an inaudible whisper now.

Taking a deep breath, knelt before his dying wife and used both hands to pull the dagger out. Blood spurted from the gaping hole and sprinkled all over his shirt.

"Dad! What have you done! What have you done?" He heard Kali's voice from behind him. He spun around to explain to her. The bloodied dagger still in his hands. He did not notice "Lucy" standing off to a side of the stage.

"Kali, it's not what you think..."

" You killed them! You killed mom and uncle Kal-El!" Kali turned away from him and ran towards "Lucy".

"Kali!"

"Ethan! Forget her. Deal with Kali later. Kara, her vital signs are weakening. I can still hear her heart beat but it is slowing down." Kal-El was slowly beginning to regain his strength now that the Kryptonite was out of the area.

"Damn! How do I get you both to the fortress? Can you fly Ka-El?"

"No, no, I am too weak. This is precisely why I wanted to talk to you about your car."

"What about my car?"

"Drive it to the front. Hurry." Kal-El slowly scrambled to his feet. "I will try to take Kara out of here."

"But my car can't get to the fortress."

"It can and we are going to Heritage Island instead."

Ethan stood there wondering about how exactly the car would make it to the middle of the ocean.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot! Hurry!"

****

"Let's stay here until we are sure your father has left." Bianca, as Lucy suggested to the child. They entered the unlocked office of Lucila and settled in.

"I can't believe he would do that! I thought he loved us! Mom told me to believe in his love for our family! She told me that he would never do anything to hurt us!"

"You can't believe everything your mother says Kali. You must remember, humans do not understand your kind. If they ever found out you existed, they would kill you too. " she planted the seeds of doubt in the child's mind.

"But we are not here to hurt anybody. We are the protectors of this planet." Kali explained in her unique child-adult manner.

"They won't understand that. So the only thing you can do is destroy them, before they kill you like they did your mother."

"But mom said..."

"Your mom is dead Kali. Your father will kill you next. You have to protect yourself because there is nobody left to protect you. I can help you destroy those who wish to destroy you. Just listen to me. I am the only one on your side now."

****

Kal-El dragged his feet as he made his way to the front door with Kara limp in his arms. She had stopped talking and was no longer responding to the calls of her name. He heard her heart beat every other second. She was fading fast.

The car spun to a stop in front of them. Jumping out of the car, he helped Kal-El load Kara into the back seat.

"Kara, talk to me honey. Hang in there. We will get you help." he promised.

"Get in Ethan!" Kal-El hurried him.

Slamming the door behind him, he looked wonderingly at Kal-El.

"The side panel, hold your left hand against it."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

He nervously held his left palm against the empty portion of the side panel. The car seemed to suddenly come to life.

_"Super car activated. Welcome Ethan Logan. Car transformation commencing." _a voice similar to Kara's came out of the car speakers.

The steering wheel sunk into the dashboard and its place, a blue and red pilot like control wheel sporting the House of El emblem appeared for Ethan to now control the car with. The car expanded in size both in and out as it took off towards the skies. The white car was now sporting a turquoise blue paint job with red sidewall tires similar to the colors of the super clothes. The dashboard was replaced by a control panel similar to the one in Kara's hyper-pod. Everything was now voice or biometrically activated within the car.

_"Transformation complete. Ready for next command." _

"Kal-El?" he glanced over at his passenger, unsure of what he had just witnessed. Talk about souping up his ride!

Kal-El's head was resting on the window glass. "You know where to go Ethan." he whispered.

"Proceed to Heritage Island." Ethan spoke up.

_"Coordinates set. Arriving at Heritage Island in 5 minutes." _

"That's too late. Ethan say "Super car, activate super flight." Time is of the essence."

"Super car, activate super flight." Ethan commanded.

_"Manual flight disengaged. Super flight activated." _the car responded.

Within a flash, the familiar dome was now appearing before them. Seemingly acknowledging the car by opening up the entry hole wide enough to accommodate the car.

"It's Kara, she's hurt. We can't stop the bleeding and she is not responding to our calls. Her heat is beating every 30 seconds." Kal-El reported to the images of Zor-El and Alura while Ethan got Kara out of the car and onto the examination table.

"I cannot detect any vital signs at the moment." Alura's holographic image declared.

****

"Lucy, is this the child you were telling me about? The daughter of Linda Logan?" Lucila pretended to ask when she entered her office to see the child and Bianca in disguise.

"Yes she is."

"Is she ready like you said?"

"She is ready."

Kali was sitting off in a dark corner of the office mourning the loss of her mother. Her anger at her father eating away at her inside. She wanted nothing more than the avenge her mother's death. Humans would pay. She would make sure of it and she would start with the man who caused her mother and she all this pain, her father.


	16. The Turning Of Kali

**The Turning Of Kali**

The town was in a state of panic as news spread across the town about the inexplicable tornado that hit the community college. People were trying to leave town as severe storm clouds gathered over the horizon. The gusty winds were beginning to cause steady rainfall that seemed to get stronger by the hour. Hurricane like winds were taking out the power and phone lines. Nobody realized that black magick was at work courtesy of Lucila and Bianca.

People were panicking and searching for guidance and leadership. The townsfolk all had the same question on their lips. Where was Supergirl? Why was she not helping them? What had they done to cause her to forsake them?

Safe within the confines of the carnival fun-house, the two women watched, a highly pleased look on their faces, as the child worked herself into a grieving frenzy. By allowing her to lose control of her emotions, she would fall directly under their control.

"Go ahead Kali, release your emotions. Get angry! Throw things if you want to. Destroying things will help you feel better." Bianca encouraged the child.

Encouraged by the words of the person whom she thought was her aunt Lucy, Kali picked up the flimsy looking dining table and ripped it in half with her bare hands. She was panting heavily. Obviously trying to control her emotions and strength like Kara had taught her.

"I want to confront my father! He may have gotten away with shunning me, but I will not let him get away with killing my mom! He will pay with his own life !" she declared angrily.

Neither of the women stopped her when she picked up the glass of milk Lucila had given her to help her calm down and hurled it across the room. The glass shattered. Milk created a white puddle in the middle of the floor. Bianca went to get a mop to clean it up.

Lucila smiled and nodded at Bianca. Kali was now ready to subconsciously do their bidding. With Supergirl and Superman finally dead, nobody stood in their way anymore. Finally her mother's dream would become a reality. Today Midvale, tomorrow the world !

****

Kara's unmoving body lay on the cold slab where she had given birth to Kali. The laser pointers continuously scanned her from head to foot. Strange looking hoses and pipes seemed to magically appear from the ceiling and connected to her through her temples, nose, and mouth.

Ethan was sitting with Kal-El in the chamber. Waiting for the results of the tests. Neither of the men could believe that Kara could be killed that easily. It was impossible! She was Supergirl ! She was of the House Of El. She did not scare easily and could not easily be beaten by simple human tactics. Even if it was Kyrptonite that she was stabbed with. Kara was not the kind to go without a fight. No, she wasn't dead. Something deep within them told them to believe it. Kara was not dead. She couldn't be.

_"Analysis complete. Kara is neither dead nor alive. She is in a state of cryogenic freeze created by her mind to help preserve her life force and restrict loss of blood."_ The voice of Alura explained to them.

"Is it possible to wake her or does she have to pull out of this state on her own?" Kal-El asked. He held Ethan back with one hand to prevent him from running into the sanitized chamber. The last thing they needed was for Kara to pick up an infection.

Although her stab wound looked visibly healed, she still needed a few hours before even the deepest recesses of her body's flesh could totally heal itself. At this point of her recuperation, she was still prone to picking up human borne viruses which could mutate in her body and cause her to fall deathly ill.

"I want to be with her Kal-El! Iknow that she needs me. I can sense it." Ethan tried to remove the hand that was holding him in place.

"No Ethan! We need to be careful. She isn't dead now, but she will be if you accidentally infect her." Kal-El explained, loosening his grip on Ethan's shoulder.

"I can't be here just watching her die! We can't all be helpless. There has to be something I can do. Something we can do for her!" Blood seeped out of his knuckles after his fist made hard contact with the solid wall of the holding room.

"Then shut up and let me handle this. Talk to me Alura." Kal-El continued discussing with the computer. It took a few more minutes before the voice of Kara's mother was heard once again.

_"All of our medical procedures have been completed. She should be awake and lucid by now. Our sensors indicate that she is fighting the wake up procedure. She does not want to wake up. She has locked herself in a state of past awareness. Refusing to come to the present." _

"We have to pull her out of it. What is the procedure for manual over ride of the wake up process?" Kal-El wanted to know as Ethan stood up and leaned his head against the glass wall that divided them from the woman he would give his own life for if asked.

_"There is a way. However, it is a far dangerous procedure as it requires the participant to come to the point of death himself in order to speak to the other's psyche." _

"Prepare the cryo chamber. I will do it." Kal-El commanded.

"No you won't. She's my wife. I will save her." Ethan countered.

"You might not survive... your physical composition is not made to withstand the extreme temperatures that Kyrptonians are used to."

"For Kara and my family, I will survive anything." Ethan held his hand up to the biometric scanner that opened the door to the isolation chamber.

A horizontal metal drum, similar in look and set up to an iron lung, slowly rose from the floor. The cold smoke coming from its bottom reminded Ethan of dry ice when mixed with water. He burned his fingers when he tried to touch the zero temperature chamber.

"Don't be a fool Ethan. There is no way you will survive this." Kal-El warned him. "This is not like the strength of 10 Kryptonian men. There is no magickal way for you to survive this if you make a mistake."

"Is this what I am supposed to wear?" Ethan picked up a burlap looking flesh colored gown hanging from the side of the chamber. Not even waiting for an answer, he began to undress and change into the clothes he had found.

"Ethan! Are you listening to me?" Kal-El demanded.

"Kal-El! You would do the same thing if it were Lois in this position! She is my wife, my love, my other half. I am nothing without her! You have to accept the fact that there are going to be times when I will have to step up to the plate. You cannot always be there for Kara, but I can!" Ethan pleaded with his cousin in law as he tried to figure out how to get the drum open.

Realizing the truth in Ethan's words, Kal-El helped him with the final preparations before he lay down within the chamber. The door automatically sealed and pressurized when Ethan lay on the icy slab. All bio sensors went online as the temperature within began to rapidly fall.

"Remember, you both have to be awake in an hour or you are both dead." Kal-El's voice entered the chamber through the built in communications device.

"We'll be out in 45 minutes." Ethan replied confidently as he lowered his protective goggles before covering himself up in a silver blanket similar to the one Jor-El had wrapped the infant Kal-El in before jettisoning his pod to Earth.

The low and steady humming sound of the chamber indicated that everything was functioning normally. Ethan's vital signs came on-screen. His body temperature began to slowly lower to a cryo freeze state. Kal-El heard him shivering over the speakers. He soon sounded like he was in severe pain, his body rhythm became erratic before finally settling down. Ethan was now in a self induced comatose state just like Kara.

"Do you think he will survive?" Kal-El asked as he monitored the sensors.

"The Prince Consort of the House Of El cannot fail." Zor-El's voice answered.

"What did you call him?" Kal-El asked in surprise.

****

Kali finally succumbed to sleep after releasing only a portion of her anger upon the fun-house. Although the bed had different sheets and was now in a different part of the fun-house, it was still the same bed where Selena had bound Ethan with chains in the past. How ironic it was that his daughter now lay on the bed, under the spell of a witch as well.

They placed an enchanted black candle at every corner of the bed, being careful not to wake her as they lit each of the wicks. The candles signified the girls desire to take the lives of those who had wronged them. Next, they encompassed the bed in a circle using the remaining sand from the phantom zone. An act which they hoped would allow them total control over the child and her powers. When everything was finally in place, Bianca walked over to the loose floorboard in the room and produced Nigel's old Burundi wand.

They clasped their hands together over the wand and began to chant ;

_"Forces of darkness heed our pleas,_

_Grant us total control over this child and her powers._

_Allow her wrath to blind her senses and emotions_

_So that she shall willingly do our bidding,_

_and destroy those whom we dictate upon her._

_Kali, Goddess of destruction_

_Heed our plea._

_Bring to fore the hatred this child feels,_

_allowing us to use it to our advantage_

_in all our deeds."_

A flash of lightning within the room was followed by a strong air current that rained the dust particles unto the body of Kali.

"Are you sure this will work? The Phantom Zone dust is supposed to bind her powers." Lucila asked as the dust settled and seemed to be absorbed by the child's skin.

"The wiccans of Argo City and Krypton were very specific. She had been telling them all about the Burundi wand and its pure evil powers and how she had used it to defeat Supergirl once. They taught her that such things can further be strengthened by the use of the Phantom Zone dust upon the El's. They developed that spell together a few days before she escaped the Phantom Zone. We will have full control of her when she awakes. It is the spell we cast which shall change the effects of the sand upon the child." Bianca confided as she withdrew the curtains to let the full moonlight in. "The child shall be under our full influence."

"How soon can we begin?" Lucila asked excitedly. She was eager to get on with the destruction of Midvale and her assumption to the magickal titles that her mother once held.

"Let the child sleep for now. We can wake her after we have finalized our plan of attack."

****

He awoke covered in a cloud of smoke. Coughing heavily as he stood up, he felt like he had hust pulled out of a severe bout of Sleep Apnea. Where was he? taking small steps as he got his bearings, he found himself in a place that reminded him of a futuristic eutopia.

As he approached what seemed to be the center if the premises, he came across a little boy running towards a group of other youths who seemed to be studying a piece of neo-art which was magically created by a tall and lanky caucasian man of indeterminable age.

"Woah! Can you tell me where I am?" he caught the boy by the shoulder of his clothing.

The boy squirmed left and right trying to get away. "Let me go! I'm late for class! Coming Zaltar!" the boy hollered towards the lanky man who was dressed differently from the rest.

"Zaltar?" Ethan wondered as the boy broke free. The man was holding a stick and drawing through the air. The next thing he knew, the statue of a train was standing before the group. As the children gazed on in amazement, the man animatedly gave a talk on the steam train as a form of human transport

"The Matterwand!" Ethan gasped. He suddenly realized where he was. "It can't be. But could it? No way! Is this Argo City?"

If this was indeed Argo city, where was Kara? Why would she choose to come back to the place that had brought her nothing but unhappiness? More importantly, how would he find her here? How would he make his way around the city?

****

"Lucy! Where the hell have you been? I have been worried sick about you! Hurry, help me pack up!" Jimmy barked as Lucy walked into their apartment with a worried look on her face. She had spent the whole day trying to find Linda, Ethan, and Kali to no avail. The city was already experiencing the first stages of a hurricane storm and Jimmy was already in disaster preparedness mode.

"Jimmy, did you see Linda or Ethan today? Did you see them anywhere?" she interrupted him as he hurriedly packed their pantry supplies into a picnic basket.

"No, even Clark was MIA today. Lois is trying to find him because the people may need their help to survive this hurricane." he replied with a note of irritation in his voice. "Don't worry about them. They will be safe. Us on the other hand..."

"I lost Kali." Lucy confessed. "Bianca took her."

Jimmy froze upon hearing her words. "How exactly does one go about losing a super child Lucy? And what is this about Bianca? She died in the Phantom Zone ages ago."

"She survived Jimmy. You gotta believe me. When Kali was screaming Monster, she meant that she was seeing Bianca in disguise." Lucy felt like kicking herself for not listening to the child when she could have. Now it was too late.

"Lucy..."

"Jimmy, I am telling you, Bianca took Kali. We need to find her parents and tell them. Only Kara can get her back."

"First we get to safety and wait for this storm to pass." Jimmy advised.

"No! We need to find her before the storm!" Lucy headed out the door and into the crazy weather.

"Lucy! It's too dangerous! Come back!" Jimmy grabbed his raincoat and followed her into the treacherous night weather conditions.

****

His search for Kara led him to the higher floors of the city. In what seemed to be the residential area, he came across a group of people who seemed to be doing some sort of yoga based exercise.

"Hello citizen, would you care to join us?" one of the young and robust teenage men in the group invited him.

"Oh, no thank you. I am looking for Kara." he responded. Hoping that the person would not notice that he spoke differently from them. For some strange reason, this man seemed familiar to Ethan. Had they met before? Impossible. He had never even heard of Argo City until he met Kara a few years ago. Yet somehow...

"Kara is a very energetic woman. She is never in one place long enough to be found." the man explained. "Even I have a hard time keeping track of her now that we are promised to each other."

"Promised to each other?" Ethan wondered aloud. Did the term mean the same thing on Argo City as it did on earth?

"Where have you been hiding citizen? The Princess Kara has been betrothed to me since we were born under the same moon."

Ethan felt jealousy build up within him. Was this all a dream? Was Kara really involved with someone else before him? Why had she never told him? He hoped that he would still have this memory when he awoke. This was something he felt that he needed to know about.

"Kara can marry you if she wishes to. Your parents arranged it after all. But I doubt she would want to marry such a pompous and self centered being such as you of her own free will Olrac." a man with what Ethan thought was a hint of a British accent spoke from behind him. He turned around to see Zaltar, his Matterwand in hand. "Be on your way. I shall assist the citizen in finding Kara." he dismissed the young man with a wave of his hand, boredom evident in his voice.

"You must be Zaltar."

"And you are Ethan. I know who you are." Zaltar surprised him.

"You know me?"

"I knew you would follow Kara. I have been hiding her since you got here. She is ashamed to present herself to you."

"Wait a minute. What is going on here? Why do you know me? Are her memories all mixed up?" Ethan wondered.

"She is trying to keep you away. That is why you are seeing her secrets. She doesn't want you to come after her. She feels she has failed to live up to her promise. That is why she has not awoken."

"But we need her to wake up. Her daughter needs her, I need her." Ethan pleaded with Zaltar.

"Ethan, she has done everything you have asked of her and yet you have done very little to understand her. "

"What are you talking about? I have always understood her."

"It is best that the two of you talk this over. Come with me." Zaltar took his hand and, in what seemed to be the blink of an eye, they were inside an enormous hall. Kara sat at the end of a very long table. Intently studying crystal tubes.

"Where are we?" Ethan whispered, not wanting to disturb Kara.

"The Hall of Learning." Zaltar responded.

"Why is she here?"

"Ask her yourself Ethan." Zaltar pushed him towards Kara.

She seemed to sense their presence in the room. Looking up from the crystals, her face registered a sad smile on her face. "You followed me." she stood up and turned her back to him. She pretended to choose other crystals for her studies.

Ethan turned to look at Zaltar who had disappeared into thin air.

"What were you expecting me to do?" he came closer and turned her around to face him.

"I failed you Ethan. I don't deserve to live. Leave me here. In this state."

"You are talking crazy! How did you fail me?" he demanded.

"I promised you I would not allow myself to be fatally harmed, and yet Prof. Leighton was able to get to me.

"Forget that! You are healed Kara. All the analysis proves it. You have to wake up!"

"You were right. Kali needs to be normal. She needs a parent who isn't going to take crazy risks like I do."

"Will you stop it! Come back Kara! We need you!"

"I should have stayed on Argo City..."

"Stop talking crazy! You can't live in this figment of your imagination forever! Even Zaltar knows that."

"He wasn't supposed to bring you to me!" she began to break down. Her voice was giving away her emotions now.

"Why not? Because you regret having married me? Do you prefer to stay with Orlac now? Do you think things would have been different if you married him instead?" Ethan was just being hurtful now.

"Orlac is a part of my life that you will never understand because you never ever showed an interest in learning about my past. The life I had before I was thrust into a role I never asked for! Now leave me where I am most at peace! Where I am among my familiars!" Kara pushed him away so she could pass.

"The only place I am going to leave you in is over in the real world with me!" he grabbed her with all the strength he could muster to keep her by his side.

"Ethan let me go! I am setting you free! Let me be! Find somebody who can give you the security and family life you always wanted. I can't do it! I can't be the person you need me to be and still be the person I am destined to be. Try to understand. I am doing what is best for us, for Kali."

"How is leaving Kali without a mother what is best for her? What do you think will happen to her without you? I can't raise her without you. The 3 of us, we are the family I always wanted. I know that now. I don't want anyone else Kara! It's you I love. Sure our family life isn't ever going to be perfect. You will always take risks with your life. But that is who you are and I can't change that. But, if you will give me a chance, I can learn to accept it. Just as I learned to accept that Kali will never be the kind of daughter who will need me to scare her dates into treating her right. That Kali will never be the kind of daughter who will run to Daddy asking him to defend her because she can do that herself. I am going to understand everything in due time." he tried to reason with her.

"Ethan!" she was about to say something else when an ear piercing shrill sound pierced the walls of the hall.

"Stop it the two of you!" Zaltar suddenly appeared before them.

"What in the blazes is that?" Ethan screamed.

"Kara, you must go back. Stop wallowing in self pity! You are better than this. You need to rely on your inner strength. Trust that it will never fail you. Remember when we were in the Phantom Zone? What was it that I told you then?" Zaltar asked her as he struggled to be heard over the nerve wracking sound.

"That you shall always be with me?" she answered.

"And always with you I shall be!" he shoved a bunch of crystals into Ethan's hand forced a large crystal box that held the Matterwand into Kara's possession. "Now, go my children! There are lives that need to be saved!"

****

The emergency sensors were going wild all over the island control center. Midvale was under attack by unknown forces. The city was being attacked by storm surges and fires were erupting all over the city. Kal=El was working double time to find the source of the strikes that seemed to be nature based.

"Zor-El, I need more power. Something is blocking the sensors." Kal-El ordered.

"I have given you all available power sources Kal-El. Until Ethan and Kara awake, I need to reserve the power that keeps the cryo freezers operational."

"How many more minutes till the deadline?"

"Ethan has approximately 10 minutes before his body falls into an irreversible state of hypothermia."

"Dammit! He told me they would be out of there in 45 minutes!" Kal-El returned to the medical area to check on the couple.

Ethan's cryo-freezer was undergoing its defrosting procedure at the very moment that Kal-El stepped in. He quickly checked on Kara who was slowly coming to as well. She was still weak, but already alert.

"Where is the attack coming from?" she wanted to know. Her voice was only slightly above a whisper.

"That is what we are trying to figure out." Kal-El responded.

"Kal-El, the situation is worse. People need to be taken to higher ground." Alura's voice interrupted.

He turned to his cousin for help. "Do you think you can fly now?"

"I need to energize first." she meant that she needed to fly directly into the center of the sun in order to reboot her super powers.

"I'll help. I'll take the supercar. " Ethan volunteered. He was still shivering from his frozen experience. The crystals Zaltar had handed him lay on the slab he had just gotten up from.

"What are those? Where did you get it?" Kal-El asked.

"Zaltar gave them to me. Where's the Matterwand" Ethan asked Kara.

"It's somewhere here." she was still disoriented when she replied.

"Source of attacks pinpointed. Placing it on the monitor now." Zor-El cleared out the medical sensor screen in the clinic and replaced it with a real time video of a place that was all too familiar to Kara.

Standing at the highest point of the roller coaster track stood Prof. Leighton and Bianca, between then, bound in chains and a headpiece that reminded everyone of a lighting rod stood a crazed looking Kali.

"Kali! No! What have you done!" Kara cried out, her knees buckling under her. Kal-El caught her just in time.

"I need to recuperate." Kara urgently told them as she regained her balance.

"You do what you have to do honey. I'll go help the townsfolk as best as I can. Kal-El, stay here and monitor the situation. I will need your help. I have no idea what the car can do."

"Alright. The car is simple enough to use, but you need to get used to it first. Kara, join Ethan as soon as you can."

"Lucy! What about Lucy, Jimmy, and Lois?" Kara worried.

"I'll find them." Ethan assured her. "Now go get well."

She was just about to fly off towards the dome chute when Ethan held her hand tightly. He did not notice what she did. That he was able to fight her strength. Turning around, he gave her the most loving kiss that he could muster.

"Don't worry honey, we'll get through this. We will get our daughter back." he whispered assuringly into her ear.

"I hope you're right Ethan. I would hate to think of what we might need to do to save Kali."


	17. Zaltar's Crystals

**Zaltar's Crystals**

The Honda subcompact which was now in Super-car mode pitched from side to side as Ethan did his best to maneuver it safely through the lighting bolts and claps of thunder that seemed to be assaulting him from all sides. He felt more secure about his decision to assist Kara and Kal-El before he left the island. Now that he was almost in the thick of the action, he was almost certain that he was losing his nerve. He jumped at every clap of thunder and found himself shaking all over with every lightning bolt that seemed to enter the car from the exposed windows.

He flicked on the rear-view communicator panel in near panic. Was Kal-El absolutely sure the car could withstand all of the extreme conditions it was faced with? After all, the car was only a made in Japan from human technology. Souping it up the way Kal-El did did not exactly make him very confident since he did not understand Kyrptonian science.

"Relax Ethan. That car is the safest place to be in Midvale right now. It can withstand a 500 megaton nuclear blast." Kal-El assured him.

"I'm not so sure about that. " Ethan's body shook as a lighting bolt seemed to pass directly inside the car cabin.

"Do you want me to drop a nuclear bomb on you to prove my point?" Kal-El asked jokingly.

"No!" Ethan bellowed. "Not cool man."

"Sit back and let the on-board computer take over until you get your nerve back." he suggested to his obviously panicking cousin in law.

"I'm more of a hands on driver..."

"You've got more things to worry about than driving or flying that car right now. Pull up the emergency situations list and see which ones you should prioritize."

"How do that I do that?" Ethan wondered aloud. The control panel in front of him was all touch screen and in English but with all the buttons, everything just seemed to be in Greek to him.

"Talk to the computer."

"Oh right. Okay." Ethan switched off the communicator for the time being.

"Computer, I need the list of emergency situations. In order of priority and accessibility."

_"Collating list. Please wait."_ the computer replied.

Within moments the long list of emergency scenarios began to scroll before him on the windshield monitor. God it was a long list! A fire at the oil depot, the water dam showing signs of strain and cracking, a storm surge at the breakwater, floodwaters rising, people sitting on the roofs of their homes, hoping to be evacuated to safety... How was it possible for these two super-beings to be able to attend to all of these situations all at the same time?

"You can't help them all Ethan. You have to prioritize and help who you can. Then hope that everyone else can hang in there till you get to them." Kal-El's voice came over the speakers. Was he a mind reader? How did he manage to read Ethan's thoughts?

"Okay. How do I do that?"

"The computer..."

"Oh right! I keep forgetting. Sorry. Computer, calculate our proximity to the nearest emergency situation then set your coordinates for that location."

_"The Midvale map indicates that the closest emergency situation you can respond to is the oil depot fire. The winds have caused the blaze to reach Delta status. Workers have been evacuated. However, the flames are spreading like wildfire and threatens to set fire to Midvale Forest." _the computer indicated.

"Then that is where we will go." Ethan ordered.

****

Kara was flying slowly towards the Earth's atmosphere. She was still severely weakened by the stabbing and was trying to conserve her strength by flying at a tempered pace towards the sun. She hoped that the direct exposure to the power source of the super beings would jump start her healing process and allow her to concentrate on getting her daughter back from Bianca and Lucila at the soonest possible time. She was also worried that Ethan had gotten in over his head with all this rescue business because Kal-El had given him a new toy to go pretend to be a super-being in. What was Kal-El thinking when he did that? Ethan was most certainly not a Kryptonian and no amount of bells and whistles that he could install in the car would change that.

Her skin began to turn a roasted shade of red as she approached the heat source. Without a second thought, she put more effort into her flying and, forcing herself into a standing position, allowed the sun's gravitational pull to suck her into its inner core. The healing and energizing was practically instantaneous. It took only moments for her to return to "normal", in the sense of every Kryptonian being. She was now well on her way back to Earth. If Ethan can only keep his wits above him just a little longer, she would soon be able to take over from him.

****

"Lucy! We have to turn back! The floodwater is rising too fast. " Jimmy grabbed hold of her as they slipped and slid over the knee high waters that threatened to knock them any minute.

"No! Not without Kali! I have to find her! She is my responsibility!" she tried to make herself heard over the sudden whistling gust of wind.

"You don't even know where to start looking!" Jimmy reasoned. "Besides, a super child can very well take care of herself!"

"You don't understand! I lost her! I let Bianca take her!"

"What? What do you mean? Bianca has been dead for years!" The floodwater was chest high now. Jimmy was beginning to feel a panic attack coming on.

"Just that! She didn't die! She got out of the Phantom Zone! She was in Kara's house! She was the baby sitter!"

"How did that happen? Wait! Shouldn't we be telling Kara about this?"

"Yeah Jimmy. How do you propose we find them? From what you told me, Kara and Kal-El have their hands full. We have to find her ourselves."

"But where? Do we even know where Bianca might be hiding?"

"There is only one place I can think of. The abandoned fair grounds. It was never really demolished. She could still be there."

The floodwaters are now slightly above their chest.

"I guess we'll have to swim for it." Jimmy took Lucy's hand and dove into the murky floodwater. Oh the things he did for the super-beings.

****

The oil depot fire was raging out of control by the time There were still a few people trapped within the premises. Ethan's car hovered over the fire as he watched the panic unfolding within the blaze that was threatening to engulf the forest within 10 minutes, he wondered what he could do to put the fire out. Would it be possible for him to evacuate the people as well?

"Computer, do you have any water on-board?"

_"Water is on-board. However, water cannot put out a gasoline based fire. My data indicates that the best course of action would be to suffocate the fire." _

"Right. Suffocation. With what?"

Kal-El appeared on-screen at that exact moment. "Ethan, use the suction function of the car exhaust. It's the red button in the uppermost right hand panel."

"Thanks for letting me know." he did as instructed. "What about the people Kal-El?"

"Do you see the manual gearshift?" Kal-El had converted the stick shift to serve a higher purpose than just speeding up the car. "Push it forward. It will lower a rescue basket. Pulling the shift pulls the basket up to a safe point. You can let them out wherever you think they will be safe."

The rescue efforts of Ethan went like this for a couple of hours as he learned how to use the on-board gadgets under Kal-El's tutelage. He felt his adrenalin pumping during the whole time. He felt useful, in the game, and even, dare he say it? Super. The grateful cries of thanks from below seemed to feed him the energy and confidence he needed to complete the task before him. For the first time in a very long time, he felt very good about himself.

****

"Ethan, I have Lucy and Jimmy on the monitor. They are in trouble. Near drowning in the vicinity of the abandoned fair grounds." Kal-El informed the hero in training.

"I'm on it. Computer..."

_"I am receiving the data now. Proceeding to new location." _

The floodwaters had now reached the rooftop of most of the single floor houses and establishments. The pair were all wet and scared as they sat on the rooftop of Popeye's.

"I-I-I t-t-t-old you this was a bad idea" Jimmy's teeth were chattering.

"S-s-s-sorry, I just wanted to do the right thing." Lucy said before hearing the roar of a powerful motor overhead. The supercar created its own waves in the running flood waters.

"What the hell is that.?" Jimmy pointed to the car as it came to a hover over their exact spot.

It seemed to be low, too low for comfort. Before they could even try to understand what was going on, a hatch opened in the bottom of the car. Ethan's face was worriedly staring down at them.

"What the hell were the two of you thinking?!" he admonished them as he held out his hand to help Lucy and then Jimmy into the car.

****

Kara flew purposefully towards the abandoned fair grounds. Her daughter needed her help and she had to stop whatever plans Lucila and Bianca had in store for the town. From what she could tell, they seemed to be hell-bent on eradicating Midvale from the U.S. map. Kal-El had just finished mentally reporting the most recent events to her. Time was of the essence. Kali had to be stopped before their town became the next Atlantis.

She closed her eyes as she flew and visualized her daughter. Trying to complete the mental connection that all the El's had with each other. Kali was still a child by human standards but everything else about her was pure El. She had nothing but the highest confidence that her daughter would be able to weed out any excess thoughts and voices in her head and be able to hear her.

****

Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, Kali began to hear her mother's voice. Seemingly coming from a deep hole in space. She tried to block out the voices of Bianca and Lucila which were controlling her actions. Could her mother be alive after all?

"Mom, is that you? Where are you? Why can I hear you?" the child shut her eyes tightly in order to force her concentration.

_"Kali, what have you done? Why are you helping these people? They are evil. Why are you hurting the people we swore to protect?" _

"Aunt Lucy said daddy killed you and that when the people find out who I am and what I can do, they will kill me too."

"_Aunt Lucy? Kali, Lucy would never say such a thing."_

"Yes she did. She is right here. I can ask her. "

_"She can't be with you Kali. Your father just saved her from drowning in this storm that your anger has created." _

_"Kali, who are you talking to?" _The voice of "Aunt Lucy" broke through her mental connection to Kara.

"Mommy." the child replied. "She isn't dead."

_"Don't be silly child. She is dead. You saw your father kill her yourself." _

_"_I don't know what to believe." the child whined out of confusion.

_"Kali, listen to mommy, she isn't Lucy. Remember the monster you always saw in the house?"_ Kara was now desperate to get her child out of the mental clutches of the witch. _"That person is Aneles. Her real name is Bianca. Fight her Kali. Don't let her control you." _

"I don't.... Ouch! My head! Pain! Can't handle the pain! Too much! Mommy! Help me!" Kali was slowly coming out of the control of Bianca and Lucila. The pain was meant to be the witches defense mechanism. It was supposed to break the child's spirit and allow them to continue to control her thoughts and powers.

_"Kali! Listen to me, listen to me!" _Just at that moment, the mother felt her mental connection broken with her daughter. She leaned into her flying even more. Nobody can hurt her daughter and get away with it.

****

Having safely deposited Lucy and Jimmy on the island, Ethan was ready to head back to Midvale. But Kal-El stopped him before he could board the car.

"What now?" Ethan's nerves were frayed from all the chaos that was going on and the fact that nobody seemed to know how to get his daughter back from her captors.

Kal-El held out a half circular tube that had lenses in the middle. The sides of the tube were slim and contoured. "For you to wear on the missions."

He took the contraption and stared at it. Unsure about what the exact purpose of the item was. Where was he supposed to wear it?

"Remember, I wear glasses so nobody can recognize me? It's made from the same material. Only you have to wear it during your missions." Kal-El smiled at him.

"Missions?"

"You are a part of this family are you not?" Kal-El's voice held a note of seriousness in it.

"Yes. But I am not sure...."

"You will eventually get used to it. Don't worry, we won't let you fail. You are the best back up we can have." he reassured the worried looking Ethan.

"Does Kara know?"

"She will. "

He slipped the glasses on and his face immediately changed in contour. Even his voice changed to a higher pitched tone.

"I'm off." he gave Kal-El a mock salute before closing the car door.

****

_"Kal-El, I need your help. Kali is being hurt." _Kara tried to connect to Kal-El's mind.

_"I know Kara. I can see everything on the monitor. Ethan is on his way." _

_"Ethan??? He is not prepared! Why did you have to get him involved Kal-El?" _

_"There is a higher purpose in store for him. He has to earn it Kara."_ Kal-El had been appraised by Zor-El and Alura as to why he was addressed as Prince Consort. Kara had no idea about what was going on at the island yet.

_"What is going on there Kal-El?" _

_"You will find out soon enough. Now go get your daughter back and get this weather back on track." _

_****_

The witches were ready to have a face off with Supergirl. They would use her weakness on her, the child. The pain that Kali had been feeling earlier only escalated in discomfort so that it reached the point where the child had no other choice but to pass out from the pain. As soon as she did, Lucila cast a sleeping spell on the child to keep her in her weakened state without waking.

They soon saw Supergirl flying closer to the roller coaster tracks. Using her mother's wand, Lucila recited the Floating spell that she had found in her mother's journals. the body of Kali began to float in mid-air like a puppet on a string. Flying directly for her daughter, Kara was not prepared for what happened next.

_"One child times two,_

_Two children times infiniti,_

_Never will the original child be found."_

Pointing her wand directly at the child, a silver spark of light struck Kali and produced an innumerable number of copies of Kali. All of whom where knocked out and being manipulated through the air like paper planes.

Each time Supergirl flew closer, Lucila would release one of the mirror images, sending the mother flying down after it. Only to have it vanish into thin air. Just as Kara was beginning to feel defeated, the super-car showed up.

Ethan had been monitoring the situation from the surveillance screen in the car. This was one job that would require both the car, himself, and Kara to handle. But in order to actually be able to help his wife, he would need to be able to fly. Kal-El never mentioned anything about him being able to fly. At that very moment, the crystals Zaltar had handed him while he was in Argo City materialized, now on necklaces made of a clear material appeared on the dashboard. Zaltar's voice filled the cockpit.

_"The crystals of power are given to the man who proves to be the equal of the Princess of the House Of El in every way. You have proven to be that man for Kara Ethan. As such, you are allowed to emulate Kryptonian powers whenever needed. Use the crystals carefully. You have been entrusted with a super human task."_ The voice of Zaltar spoke to him out of nowhere.

"What? I don't understand. Zaltar, what are you saying?" Ethan was getting used to talking to these disembodied voices already.

_"You need to fly. Take a crystal and place it around your neck. Tell the crystal what power you need and it shall be granted for an hour. Remember, you will need one crystal for every power you will require." _Zaltar's voice trailed off.

Without thinking twice, Ethan took a necklace and draped it on his neck, Pressing the button that opened the roof hatch of the car, he set the car on auto pilot with preset instructions then zoomed out of the car.

"You're flying!" Kara exclaimed upon seeing him. "But how?"

"Zaltar. Long story. Tell you later. You handle the witches, I will get Kali." he instructed his wife. He wondered where he got the confidence to order Kara around. He felt and knew that he was changing. He just did not know if it was his paternal instinct or if it had anything to do with all the bells and whistles the El's seemed to be giving him lately.

Kara immediately flew upward towards the witches. The car flew directly into the crowd of Kali's, dissipating each of the illusions until only the real Kali was left. In retaliation, Lucila sent the child plummeting to the ground.

Ethan flew after the child and urgently grasped her in his arms. Kali was now safely ensconced in her father's embrace. The car came around and opened the hatch for them to enter. He flew the car back towards the island, leaving Kara to take down the witches.


	18. The Matterwand

**The Matterwand**

Kara had a definite feeling that she was flying into a battlezone wherein she was set up to lose. She was now up against 2 witches whose knowedge of the magickal ways far outnumbered the little information that Zaltar was able to impart to her once upon a time. All she had to back her up was her strength, logic, and the desire to end the fued that Lucila was never supposed to have been involved in.

She could see the smugness on Bianca's face as she stood behind the woman who was once her teacher and mentor. Kara coul not help but wonder about how everything was going to end. Kal-El and she had banished Selena back to the Phantom Zone in the past. Now that the prison for all that was evil in their world had been destroyed, what were her options? She had no desire to inflict pain upon this woman. Lucila was someone whom she respected. It would not have made any difference to her who Lucila's mother was for she believed that the sins of the parent should never be taken out on the children. If only Bianca had not turned her evil... If only they had not gone after Kali... If only they were not currently trying to destroy Midvale...

Bianca no longer hid her disfigured image from the world. She viewed the young hero with disdain as the image inched closer to where they stood at the top of the tracks. Consumed by the thought that the time for revenge had come, she raised her hands and, in the blink of an eye, streamed a steady flow of fire towards Supergirl.

Kara's hair was partly singed as she made her way between the firewave. The flames were landing on the wet structures in the carnival. The intense heat caused the wet wooden structures to become tinder. A quick look back on Kara's part showed her that the town could be engulfed in fames if she did not act fast.

"What are you doing? We never agreed on burning down the town!" Lucila angrily tried to stop Bianca.

With each raise of her hand the fire seemed to be swallowing the floodwaters. In its place was a wave of fire that nobody would be able to escape.

Kara made an instantaneous decision to forego the battle and help the people instead. She did her best to evacuate them to safety but she could only help so many people at a time. She was distracted and no longer concentrating on protecting herself.

"Now Lucila! She is at her most vulnerable. Strike her!" Bianca influenced her companion.

Lucila felt a tinge of guilt as the results of their rampage dawned upon her. Was she really this evil person? Did she have it within her to kill innocents in cold blood as Bianca was currently doing? Was it right to avenge Selena's death by taking more lives?

"Lucila!" Bianca warned.

" I can't do it." came her weak reply.

"What?"

"I can't kill her. I can't kill these people!" she declared forcefully.

***

Ethan stroked his unconscious daughter's hair as the car flew them to safety. What ever made him think that he could have turned his back on her? The child had suffered emotional trauma because of him. Fallen into the wrong hands because she did not know his love nor trust him. If she had come to irreparable harm because of his stupidity...

The car had come to a soft landing within the Dome of Heritage. Lucy, Jimmy, and Kal-El met him at the hatch, a look of concern painted clearly on their faces. Ethan surprised himself by being able to lift Kali without the slightest effort.

They gathered around her in the medical room. It did not take too long to heal her visible wounds using the advanced technology available to them. What did bother them though was that Kali did not stir even once during the process. ALthough Alura and Zor-El assured them that she was mereky sleeping, they could not help but worry.

"You need to go help Kara instead of pacing all over the place." Kal-El advised.

"I can't leave her." Ethan responded.

"Sure you can. She is at her safest here."

"But I have no idea what to do. How to help Kara. I am not a superhero."

Kal-El could not help but smile inwardly as he listened to Ethan. There was no reason for his uncertainty, but he was not in a position to point that out. All he could do was help him come into his own in a world that he was never a part of before.

"A superhero is not just about having powers Ethan. Anybody can be a hero provided that his heart is in the right place. You have always been right there fighting the good fight alongside Kara and I. You have helped good triumph over evil with every chance that you got. Not because Kara made you do it, but because you have always had a good heart. You are a superhero Ethan. You do not need the perks that extraordinary abilities presents to prove that." Kal-El coaxed him into remembering all the battles the House of El had fought since Kara had come to earth. At the end of each lengthy battle, Ethan always stood proudly beside his wife while celebrating the triumph of good over evil.

Now Ethan was equipped to help Kara. To fight alongside her as somewhat of an equal. His daughter lay silently on the bed, the reason why he hould and must find it within him to fight the good fight. What kind of human role model would he be to her if he did not do his part to help his own race? Midvale needed him as a savior just as much as they needed Supergirl.

"Let me gas up the car." he declared as he walked purpoefully towards the take off area.

"Don't be silly Ethan. Do you really think I would let you use a supercar that needed gasoline? The exhaust fumes from a similar natural power from Krypton helped to destroy my planet. Your car runs on something else. I fixed it to run on both solar and lunar power already." Kal-El explained.

"Excellent!" Ethan headed for the launch pad with a new energy in his steps.

****

"Lucila, do not force me to kill you as well!" Bianca sent a warning blast of lighting towards Selena's daughter which she evaded with a hand shield spell.

"We don't have to kill these people Bianca! They are not the ones who killed my mother! The only person we should concentrate on is Supergirl!"

"These people dared to defy your mother when she was in power! They deserve to die unless they submit to our leadership, which we know they will not!"

"Bianca! I don't want to turn on you but I will if I have to!" Lucila pleaded as she tried to bind the hands of Bianca to prevent her from casting any more destructive spells.

"Then you are against me! I have no use for traitors!" with that declaration, Bianca waved her arms widely and called upon the powers of darkness to deal with Lucila.

_"Powers of darkness_

_take this woman from consciousness_

_Render her in suspended sleep._

_So that I may continue and accomplish_

_the task which has been laid out before me,_

_the annihilation of Midvale, _

_and the death of Supergirl."_

Lucila let out a wail of pain as a black spiral of wind engulfed her person. As the wind covered more of her body, she felt the life ebbing away from her until she could no longer keep her eyes open nor breath. However, she was not really asleep nor dead. She could hear everything going on around her. Her body floated into a perpendicular position as if she were lying flat on a bed.

"Listen as I kill the very people you should have helped me destroy. Their deaths shall cause your own slow death until I feel that you are ready for the final blow." Bianca laughed like a maniac.

Kara saw everything that happened from not so far away. She had been bringing the last of the townsfolk to safety when her super hearing picked up Lucila's screams. Seeing everything unfold before her very eyes as she flew back towards them, she wondered what may have happened to make them turn on each other. She covered her mouth to muffle her own scream when she saw Lucila being eaten up by the vortex and then floating not far away from where Bianca still stood.

Taking advantage of the further distractions that preoccupied her nemesis, Bianca made a bow and arrow materialize out of thin air. At the tip of the single arrow was a green, glowing stone -- the one thing that could finally put an end to Supergirl.

_"Arrow of great flight,_

_arrow of great might. _

_Fly swift and sure, _

_resting deeply where it is sure_

_that the venom possessed_

_shall take her life." _

She repeated the chant over and over as Kara flew nearer, finally releasing the arrow when she sensed that the arrow would not miss its target at the existing range. Kara tried to fly away and around the arrow when she realized what the attached projctile was. Yet she could not shake the arrow for some reason. It was almost like a heat seeking missile, flying swiftly towards its intended target. There was no way it was going to miss its her. By the grace of the Kryptonian gods, Ethan, riding the supercar came out of nowhere and struck the arrow down. The sheer thickness of the super car's body and frame was enough to protectively shield Kara from the effects of the Kryptonian rays that emerged from the explosion.

_"Thank you honey." _He heard Kara's thoughts in his mind._ "Is Kali alright?" _

_"She's fine. Don't worry about her. Now, let's end this fight Kara. So we can go home."_ Kal-El had quickly taught him how to let Kara hear his thoughts while riding the car before he took off. In case he needed to communicate with her while she was outside of the car.

An enraged Bianca was casting spell after spell towards the couple in the expectation that one of the spells would hit them and have the desired destructive effect on them. It was everything that Kara and Ethan could do to keep avoiding the spell strokes while trying to get nearer to their target.

"This is impossible!" Kara cried out in frustration.

From within the recesses of Ethan's mind, he heard Zaltar's voice, instructing him on what to do.

_"Give her the Matterwand." _the voice commanded.

_"But I don't have it here."_ Ethan thought as he scanned around the car.

_"Yes you do."_ Zaltar assured him.

A low humming sound was emitted by one of the control panels in the car. Turning his attention to it, Ethan saw the Matterwand slowly materialize. Now, glowing in all its silvery glory before him, all he had to do was find a way to get it to Kara in order to give her a fighting chance. Then he remembered the crystals.

"Give me the power to fly." he commanded as he took the wand and opened the floor panel. After stepping out of the car, he felt himself floating in the air, he made a dash for Kara who was flying erratically as she evaded the spells.

"Kara!" he held the wand out to her. She flew towards him.

"Zaltar said for you to use this."

She glanced at the wand. Remembering back to the lessons she had with Zaltar on Argo City. She smiled as she took the wand from him.

"This will do the job." she gave him a quick kiss as she took off directly in the direction of Bianca now.

****

Using the Matterwand as shield, she began to deflect the spells being cast. Sending the same spells back to Bianca who could not move fast enough to dodge the recasting. Each of the spells that backfired weakened her further and further until she reached the point where one final spell would spell her death. Kara knew that she could also easily use on of the spells Zaltar had taught her to go for the final kill and rid herself of the problem. But Kara was no killer. No, she would do the proper thing and bring Bianca to justice. For that was both the Kryptonian and Argonian way.

She flew up to a severely weakened Bianca and floated before her.

"Why don't you end it Supergirl? I am ready to die."

"No Bianca. I do not kill anybody or anything for any reason. You of all people should know that. What happened to Selena, it could not be helped. She caused her own demise. But you, you can still change. Take this chance at a second life. Please." Supergirl explained as Bianca's knees folded so that she was sitting on the tracks already.

Kara failed to see Bianca pull out the last remaining Kryptonite stone from within her long dress. Taking strength from an unseen source, she lunged upward at Supergirl, holding the stone to the center of her forehead.

"Die Supergirl!"

Ethan was at their side within seconds. Ripping Bianca away from his wife, she somersaulted and while holding the Matterwand, recited the chant that she never want to use.

_"You must pay dearly for all the evil you have done in this world. _

_For taking a life, you must pay with your own. _

_For taking many lives,_

_You shall die the same number of deaths._

_Until you can breath no more."_

Then she aimed the wand at Bianca who was being held up infront of her by Ethan. Ethan felt Bianca's body overcome with a severe heat from within her until flames rose from her mouth and smoke exited from her ears. In less than a minute, she had been reduced to smoldering ashes, flying harmless downwards toward the town.

The battle was finally over.


	19. The Legacy Continues

**The Legacy Continues**

Kara and Ethan stood floating in mid-air as the smoke cleared between them. The weather was beginning to clear up and the flooding beneath them seemed to immediately subside. But the clouds remained dark above them. Ethan floated closer to his wife and held her close to him.

"It's okay honey. It's over." He stroked her hair and kissed her cheek to calm her down. Her body was visibly shaking and her grip on the Matterwand was loosening. He placed his hand on its exposed area and took it from her. Within minutes, the wand had de-materialized and returned to its hiding place between planes until it was needed again.

She let out a low wail as the tears began to spill out of her eyes. "Ethan, what have I done? How could I have used the death spell on her? A spell that on Argo City, we used only on those who tried to assassinate the Elders and Guardians? What has happened to me? I've become a killer..."

"Hush... Stop it Kara. No. You haven't become a killer. You are still the same Kara who was sent to Earth to help protect it. You did what you had to do."

"But first I killed Selena... now Bianca...."

"They left you with no choice. They tried to kill you. Bianca tried to kill our daughter! It was your mother's instinct that drove you to protect the family. I would have done the same thing to protect both of you." Ethan tried to explain to her as he guided her towards the Super car. Kara was obviously in no position to be flying and he felt his flying power starting to fade.

Lucy and Jimmy stayed at the hospital with Lucila until she regained consciousness.

"Who are you?" she asked weakly upon gazing her eyes upon the sleeping pair beside her.

"Lucila, you're awake." Lucy responded by pressing the nurse button as she cleared the sleep from her eyes. Jimmy continued to doze off on the seat next to her.

"Is that my name?"

"Don't you remember who you are? You are professor Lucila Leighton. You teach Creative Writing classes at Midvale Community College." she tried to remind the woman.

"I don't remember anything...." Lucila's voice had a tinge of panic in it.

Lucy began nudging Jimmy to wake up as the nurse came into the room.

"Thanks for coming. We need the doctor. There seems to be a problem." Lucy explained.

The nurse nodded and turned to fetch the doctor on duty.

"Jimmy wake up!" Lucy finally punched him in the shoulder to wake him up.

"Youch!" Jimmy yelped. "What? A simple nudge would have been better Luce."

"Lucila's awake. She can't remember a thing." she brought him up to date while the patient stared blankly at them.

"Oh... That can't be good." Jimmy responded.

"You think?" Lucy was being sarcastic. "What the heck happened during that battle?"

"Who really knows? Ethan and Linda won't tell us anything."

They just stared on as the doctor came in and began to check on Lucila. Ethan would be picking them up soon to return to the island. Over the past few days, the island was starting to become their groups hang out as they all spent more and more time there than at the house in Midvale.

The dome over Heritage Island opened up to allow Ethan's entry onto the premises. He had been flying in at the end of his work day in order to spend time with Kara and Kali who were staying on the island in order to allow Kali more freedom to discover her powers and learn about her Kryptonian and Argonian past from the crystals and simulations that the technology of the island provided.

But there was something different about the island today. He sensed it the minute the car door opened. Kara was not around to greet him as she customarily did. Even Kali was not around to jump into his arms when he got out of the car. Strangely, he found that he was almost their equal when they were on the island. It was almost as if he were Kryptonian instead of human. He found himself capable of doing things that he could not do when he was back in Midvale. In fact, he too was being educated on the history of his wife and cousin in law's origins. He understood them better now and he loved his wife more than he ever thought it would be possible to love a life partner.

The lights in the dome suddenly darkened and red and green lights filled the room.

"Ethan are you ready?" Kal-El asked him. He came out of the shadows dressed in the traditional all silver suit that his father wore as the leader of the House of El.

"Ready for what Kal-El?"

"She's got a case of Amnesia." the doctor explained to Jimmy and Lucy. "I will need to run some tests in order to determine if this is a short or long term situation."

"But how could she have gotten Amnesia? She did not hit her head." Lucy wondered.

"Trauma to the brain isn't the only reason a person develops Amnesia." the doctor began to explain. "A severe traumatic experience can also do it."

Lucy and Jimmy looked at each other. Nodding at each other in silent agreement as they acknowledged the cause of the situation to one another. The battle.

The door opened up to reveal Linda at the entrance. Kal-El had sent her back to Midvale to pick up their friends. Lois had already gone ahead to the island with Kal-El.

"Are you guys ready to go?" She asked without realizing that Lucila was staring hard at her.

"Who is she?" Lucila felt fear beginning to grip her.

Linda looked wonderingly at her friends.

"She can't remember a thing." Lucy explained. "Amnesia." she whispered.

Linda nodded sadly as she walked over to the bed.

"Hi. Professor, do you remember who I am?" she tried to jog the woman's memory.

"Should I?" the woman wondered aloud.

"I am one of your students. I am Linda Logan."

The mention of the name brought some snippets of memories of the battle to Lucila's memory. But she could not recall them as a reality. Rather, she thought of the images of Linda in the guise of Kara as a strange dream.

"I remember something... a dream.. you were dressed in blue and red. You were flying..."

"You must have been dreaming." the doctor explained. "Or been a witness to the latest battle that Supergirl saved the town from."

"Supergirl..." Lucila wondered why the name sounded familiar to her.

As their attention was mainly focused on Lucila, none of them noticed the thin black smoke that entered the room through the open room window and settled underneath the patient's bed.

"I'm sorry but you will all have to leave now." the doctor instructed as he pointed to the clock on the wall that signified the end of visiting hours.

"We will visit you again tomorrow." Linda assured Lucila as she squeezed her hand in a friendly gesture.

Lucila had dozed off after the visitors had left. So she had no idea that the smoke underneath her bed had begun to leak out and begin to take a ghostly shape. A shape that would have been familiar to her if she had any memories at all.

The figure floated towards her and nudged her awake.

"Hello Lucila." the other worldly voice of Bianca penetrated her consciousness.

At that very moment, all the memories of Lucila came flooding back. But she was powerless to fight off the dark presence in the room. She opened her mouth to scream. An opportunity that Bianca took to take control of Lucila's body instead. Lucila writhed in pain as she tried to fight the being that insisted on taking over her body.

"No Bianca!" she screamed as she lost the battle. Her own consciousness driven to a dark area of her mind as Bianca's self took full control of her body.

"Just as your mother was a weakling, so are you Lucila. Weaklings always lose." Bianca's voice came out of Lucila's mouth. "This body is mine. The battle isn't over Supergirl."

Ethan was now dressed in an updated version of the Guardian uniform that Zor-El wore during his lifetime. Pacing the floor, he was worried and excited at the same time about what was going on. Kal-El had told him that something big was going to happen that day and that the uniform was part of the event.

Kal-El was holed up on the Hall of Knowledge for most of the day as he prepared for the forthcoming event. As the last remaining male Kryptonian, it was his duty to install Ethan into his rightful place within the House of El.

_"Ethan, please go to the Hall of Knowledge. They are awaiting your arrival." _his mother in law's voice instructed him.

"As you instruct." he replied in the manner that Kal-El had educated him in.

The great giant doors of the hall opened upon sensing his presence. Marching into the hall, he saw Kara and Kali seated at the end of the walkway in what seemed to be some sort of thrones. They were both dressed in what he had come to learn were the outfits of the Queen and Princess of the House of El. Kal-El stood at the top of the step before them. Holding a crystal bejeweled sword before him.

"Ethan Logan. Step forth and kneel before the House of El" Kal-El instructed when Ethan stopped walking as he was overtaken by the sheer beauty of the people before him. They looked like they were part of a painting instead of reality.

Images of Kal-El and Kara's parents projected unto the sides of the platform. Jor-El, Zor-El, and Alura all stood proud and mighty as the newest son of the House of El came forth to accept his destiny. Lois, Lucy, and Jimmy lined the sides of the walk path.

"Ethan Logan, son of the planet Earth, husband to Kara of the House of El, and father to Karalinda, Princess of the House of El, do you accept the responsibility of becoming guardian to the secrets of the universe, Kryptonian power, and Argonian heritage that your wife and daughter were born into?"

Looking up from his bowed kneeling position, he looked upon his wife and child, both gazing upon him proudly. He smiled at them as he came to realize what was being asked of him.

"I do with all my heart pledge to be the Guardian of these universal and worldly secrets." he looked Kal-El straight in the eyes.

"Stand before me and hold out your hands." He was instructed.

Raising the sword between them, Kal-El locked Ethan into his gaze. Seriousness evident in his voice and eyes.

"By accepting the Sword of El, you submit yourself to becoming a protector of all that is innocent and threatened. You swear to protect all beings and creatures who are too weak or unable to protect themselves. Do you understand what is being asked of you?"

"I do." Ethan replied as he accepted the sword into his hands. Raising it and placing it diagonally on his left chest, he completed the vow. "For this planet and its inhabitants need protection from the evils of the world and universe, I swear to aide the House of El in the constant and vigilant protection of the planet that we all call home to the best of my human and acquired extraordinary abilities."

With that Kal-El stood aside to reveal an empty throne between Kara and Kali.

"Then come and take your rightful place in the House of El as the Prince Consort of Kara, Queen of the House of El."

Lois, Lucy, and Jimmy could not help but clap and whistle at the end of the ceremony as the House of El stood before them, now complete and starting anew.

**One week later**

Moving boxes lined up outside the Logan home. There was a flurry of activity as Linda, Ethan, and Kali busily packed away their belongings. It was moving day for them. Ethan had just come into the garage with more sealed boxes while Kal-El tried to figure out the best way to fly out with the boxes.

"I'm flying off with these boxes. You can pack the rest into the car and Linda and Kali can fly with the rest." Kal-El explained as he strung boxes of various sizes atop each other.

"Okay. We will see you there." Ethan assured him. He waved off the super being laiden with about 40 boxes that no human would have been able to handle but Ethan knew was nothing to Kal-El.

"Honey, take a break?" Linda had followed him with a glass of Lemonade. A welcome drink during that hot afternoon. He gulped it down in a few swallows.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Linda's voice was uncertain as she watched him drink.

He touched the cold glass to his forehead before answering. "This is what will be best for our family Linda. We are not an ordinary family and never will be. I have accepted that now." he explained as he handed the glass back to her.

"But living on the island?"

"Is what will help keep our family secure and intact. We will not be safe living in Midvale while Kali grows into her powers." he stated matter of factly.

"But you work here."

"And will continue to work here for as long as the Super car exists." He pulled her close and kissed her teasingly and lovingly at the same time. "Don't worry."

"I'm ready mom, dad." Kali interrupted the tender moment between the couple by pulling on her mother's skirt.

"Yeah, right." Linda broke from the kiss first. "Let's get into our flying clothes. She took Kali by the shoulders and turned her around heading back into the house.

They were back in the blink of an eye.

"Ready guys?" The roar of the Super car coming to life under Ethan's command greeted them upon their return.

"Yeah dad." Kali smiled at him, excited about where they were going.

"Then let's go." Ethan took off with his wife and child flying alongside the car. Their destination? Their new home on Heritage Island.

With the House of El now fully reinstalled and the birth of the first in the next generation of El's, the legacy of the House of El and the protection of planet Earth was safely insured.

The End

**A/N: I have a prequel to the Supergirl story planned. I am still working on the details but I hope to start work on it by June or July. It will be all about how Linda and Ethan have been meant for each other from the very start. Even before they even met. Stay tuned for more :-) **


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